


Midnight Coffee Dates

by HiddenOne



Category: Glee
Genre: M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-05-07
Packaged: 2017-12-04 16:58:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 19,656
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/713003
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HiddenOne/pseuds/HiddenOne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After Blaine tells Kurt that he cheated, he’s a mess. Fortunately for him, Sebastian is trying this whole ‘nice guy’ routine and makes sure Blaine gets home safe after getting drunk at Scandals. Enter Cooper Anderson, stage right.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> First, endless thanks to my beta misscorday! I still can hardly believe that I was fortunate enough that you responded to my passive-aggressive whining and even now that you still stick with me :)  
> And thank you to the anons (both of you!) who prompted this (Blaine jealous of Sebastian and Cooper).
> 
> Important note for this story: It starts out almost directly after 'The Break Up,' but will proceed into relatively AU territory after that.

“I am just…a h-horrible person,” Blaine sobs when Sebastian opens the passenger car door.

Sebastian doesn’t even bother to respond at this point – Blaine has been repeating the same basic idea for what feels like hours. A broken-hearted Blaine is a very depressing drunk, so much less fun than the last time they were at Scandals. Sebastian just grabs Blaine’s arm and hauls him out of Sebastian’s car. This definitely wasn’t his plan when he went to Scandals tonight and even if he had known Blaine was also going to be there, this wasn’t what he would’ve imagined. Being nice sucks _a lot_.

“Why am I so…so stupid?” Blaine cries into Sebastian’s shoulder – or well, more like his side. Sebastian wraps his arm around Blaine’s shoulder and tries to direct Blaine’s stumbling to the front of the Anderson home.

Sebastian sighs as they slowly zigzag up to the house. Fortunately it’s dark so as long as he keeps Blaine quiet, he won’t be delivering a drunken Blaine into the arms of angry parents.

“Do not make me search for your keys,” Sebastian mutters when they finally reach Blaine’s front door. It’s locked and Blaine might start bawling about being a whore again if Sebastian starts going through his pockets.

But since Blaine only sags against him, he’ll just have to take his chances.

Sebastian slips his hand into Blaine’s right pocket. He bites his lip and tries to think of something else besides where his hand is, such as Blaine’s parents opening the door right now or something. He’s trying so hard to be the good guy but Blaine is making it really difficult. It does get easier to ignore where his hand is, though, when Blaine bursts into tears again though thankfully doesn’t start accusing Sebastian of feeling him up.

Sebastian breathes a sigh of relief when he manages to pull Blaine’s keys from the correct pocket on the first try. It takes a few wrong guesses but eventually he picks the right key to unlock the front door. Sebastian quietly eases the door open before rearranging his grip on Blaine and manhandling him into the house.

“Be quiet,” Sebastian whispers, attempting to hold onto his patience. The house is dark and quiet, but Blaine really needs to stop crying.

Fortunately Blaine does quiet down except for a few loud sniffles as Sebastian half-drags him down the hallway. He’s never been in the Anderson house but a couch has to be somewhere nearby, right? Fortunately with the full moon and the windows, Sebastian manages to avoid the decorative table and potted plants as they shuffle further into the house.

He’s never been so glad to reach a living room before. Blaine may be short, but there’s definitely some muscle weighing him down. Only a few moments later Sebastian is able to sigh as he dumps Blaine onto the couch. He stretches his arms and back, content that his ‘nice guy’ quota is filled for at least six months. He didn’t even grope Blaine’s ass!

“Blaine?” comes a quiet voice from behind him and Sebastian whirls, eyes wide.

“Uh…he’s drunk,” Sebastian explains cautiously. He stands straight, body tense for whatever reaction from the man in the doorway. He does appear to be too young to be Blaine’s father, though.

“Is he conscious?” the man asks, coming over to the couch.

“Yeah,” Sebastian answers, “just…depressed.”

“Cooper. Cooper he hates me,” Blaine whines from where he’s half-laying on the couch.

“Sh, Blaine. Everything is going to be fine, okay?” Cooper soothes, running a hand over Blaine’s back.

“No it’s not,” Blaine slurs, staring dejectedly at the carpet.

“Do you mind helping me carry him to his room?” Cooper asks Sebastian. “I don’t think he’ll enjoy my parents finding him in the morning.”

“Sure,” Sebastian sighs. His quota is filled for nine months now, he reasons.

He and Cooper each grab one of Blaine’s arms and put it around their shoulders. It’s an uncomfortable hunched shuffle for all of them, but especially Sebastian. But he follows Cooper’s lead and a few hallways and corners later they’re finally depositing Blaine on his bed.

Sebastian shifts his weight from side to side as Cooper removes Blaine’s shoes and tucks him into bed. The whole situation is awkward. He just hopes Blaine won’t have a completely messed up memory in the morning because Sebastian specifically made sure to keep his hands to himself and he should be rewarded for that.

Sebastian follows Cooper out of the room, leaving Blaine who seems to be crying himself to sleep.

“Thanks for bringing him back,” Cooper says quietly as he closes Blaine’s door behind them.

“I owe him,” Sebastian responds with a shrug.

“Are you okay to drive? Do you need a place to stay tonight?” Cooper questions as he leads Sebastian back to the front of the house.

“I’ll be fine,” Sebastian answers quietly, but Cooper shakes his head.

“How much have you had to drink?”

“Just one beer, awhile before I drove here. I’m fine,” Sebastian repeats.

Cooper brings him to the kitchen. The only light is from a laptop screen with an open Word document. No doubt Cooper was here when he and Blaine came into the house, and the reason Cooper heard them.

“Well, I’m making you drink at least one cup of coffee before I’ll let you leave,” Cooper says sternly and starts rummaging in the cupboards.

Sebastian rolls his eyes. He is stands, fidgeting, in the middle of the kitchen, trying his best not to check out Cooper too much. Good guys aren’t supposed to check out their infatuation’s older brother, Sebastian’s pretty certain. He still feels disappointed that there isn’t much he can make out in the shadows, though.

“Have a seat. It’ll be a few minutes,” Cooper says, waving his hand at the stools at the kitchen counter.

Sebastian silently sits on a stool, leaving one in between his and the one that Cooper comes over to occupy. The sound of the coffee maker starting is unusually loud in the quiet house.

“So whose plan was it to drink Blaine’s troubles away?” Cooper asks, but Sebastian can’t detect any accusations in it.

“His. I didn’t know he was going to be at the bar.”

“Where were you?”

“Scandals,” Sebastian answers neutrally, analyzing Cooper’s face in the light of the laptop screen. Cooper frowns, but it’s more thoughtful than angry.

“Is that the gay bar in Lima?”

“Yes.”

“Hm,” Cooper responds but fortunately doesn’t seem disgusted or surprised. He probably would’ve lost all his ‘nice guy’ points if he had just outed Blaine to his brother, though Sebastian didn’t know how anyone could think that Blaine _isn’t_ gay.

Then Cooper chuckles. “I didn’t even know that my straight-laced baby brother had a fake ID.”

“That would be me,” Sebastian admits.

Cooper raises his eyebrows. “Sorry, who are you again?”

Sebastian hesitates. Does Cooper know his name, particularly attached to the slushie and surgery? He could just say a friend but Dalton…but is he? He finally decides to answer, "Sebastian. From Dalton.”

“Sebastian Smythe?” Cooper asks.

“…Yeah.”

Cooper nods slowly. “Blaine’s told me about you.”

Sebastian blanks his face and chooses to stare at the coffee-maker. This is the worst karma in the world if he does nine months worth of good guy stuff and gets bitched out by the older brother.

“But I suppose if he can forgive you, who am I to hold it against you?” Cooper continues. Even though Cooper’s gaze is still analyzing him, Sebastian relaxes a little in relief. “Though I will definitely come after you and cut off your dick if this whole drunk episode was some stupid plan to get with my brother.”

Sebastian clenches his fists. He is seriously trying to be the nice guy and it’s hard enough without people who didn’t even know him second-guessing him. “I didn’t touch him,” Sebastian forcefully states.

“Good.”

There’s just an awkward silence as they sit on the stools. Sebastian really wishes he could leave but he doesn’t want to give Cooper a reason to try to physically force him to do anything now. Fortunately the coffee has finally finished brewing.

Cooper wordlessly gets up and goes over to the machine. He gets two mugs down from the cupboard and pours them both full of steaming coffee.

“How do you like yours?” Cooper asks, going over to the fridge and pulling out some creamer.

“Black is fine.” It isn’t like he can ask for a shot of something alcoholic.

Cooper hands him the mug of steaming coffee before adding some creamer and then a spoonful of sugar into his own. Sebastian blows on the coffee a bit before taking a small sip. He winces as the hot coffee burns his tongue and all the way down his throat. No chance he is just downing the liquid and leaving, then.

“Don’t burn yourself,” Cooper says with a small smile as he takes his seat back on his stool.

Sebastian snorts and resigns himself to setting the coffee down and waiting longer. He checks the time on the microwave – 2:26 a.m.

“So…Sebastian. I’m curious. What makes you decide to take my brother home rather than just call him a cab? Or just leave him at the bar?”

Sebastian shrugs.

Cooper lets out a long breath. “Well…thank you. For doing that. I don’t want to think about what could’ve happened to him if you hadn’t made sure he was okay.”

Sebastian just shrugs again and tries to keep himself from blushing. He’s never been thanked for doing something and it’s making him uncomfortable. He takes another sip of coffee and it’s still too hot.

“I’m serious. Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Sebastian mutters, going back to the coffee despite the temperature.

There’s another awkward silence as they do nothing but sip their coffee and Cooper occasionally clicks things on his laptop.

“So…” Cooper begins again. “What are you doing at – Scandals, right? – Scandals on a Friday night?”

“Looking for a fuck.”

Cooper stares at Sebastian for a few moments. Then he bursts out laughing, startling Sebastian at the loud noise. He can’t help but smile as Cooper continues laughing, though he isn’t entirely sure why. Eventually Cooper’s laugher finally dies away to chuckles and then just snorts. Sebastian sips at his coffee to hide his smile as Cooper calms himself down.

“You don’t bullshit around, do you?” Cooper asks, smiling wide at Sebastian.

Sebastian just smirks though it isn’t very strong under Cooper’s gaze. He has tried to ignore it up until now, but with that smile the older Anderson just so happens to be fucking _gorgeous_. 

“I take it your plans were interrupted by my brother?”

“Unless you’re offering.”

Cooper chuckles. “Afraid not, kid.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes because honestly, he’s eighteen. He’s impressed that Cooper didn’t freak out at the flirting. Now he _really_ wants to meet the Anderson parents.

This time it’s a more comfortable silence as they each go back to their coffee. It’s a good quality dark roast with a hazelnut flavor. It would go much better with a shot of Courvoisier or some other alcohol add-in, of course, but it’s good enough.

“Caffeine takes about thirty minutes to take effect. I hope you aren’t planning on keeping me that long after I finish this,” Sebastian eventually drawls.

“How long is your drive from here?”

He’s actually headed back to Dalton so, “Just under an hour.”

“Then I suppose I can set you free after that cup of coffee,” Cooper replies with a wry smile. “It’ll kick in about half-way and I guess I can be happy with that. Unless you’d like to stay the extra thirty minutes,” he offers.

“Not unless you plan on entertaining me,” Sebastian suggests.

“I’m not even going to ask what you mean and just say no,” Cooper replies with a chuckle.

Sebastian quickly drains the rest of the coffee, wincing as it burns down the rest of his throat. He never chugs coffee for that reason. But as gorgeous as the older Anderson is, it’s obvious that tonight is not his lucky night. If it had been and either Anderson were in a position to accept, he wouldn’t care so much about that English project on Hemingway that he needs to start so he can finish by Monday.

“Am I really that horrible of company?”

“Not if you change your mind and decide to entertain me,” Sebastian shoots back with a smirk.

“Now I see what Blaine was talking about,” Cooper says, shaking his head but Sebastian notices his smile. “Okay, if you don’t want to stay anymore I won’t force you. Thank you for finishing the coffee.”

“That doesn’t even make sense,” Sebastian mumbles as he gets off the stool. Cooper shouldn’t be thanking him for drinking his coffee.

“It sets my mind at ease. Especially since it’s obvious that I don’t want to give you my number to text me when you get home,” Cooper teases.

Sebastian chuckles because Cooper is probably right.

Cooper walks him to the door, unnecessary and slightly awkward. Once again Sebastian is grateful enough that there is enough moonlight to see where he’s walking, since Cooper doesn’t feel that it’s necessary to turn on the lights.

“Have a safe drive home. And if you change your mind, feel free to turn around and come back. I’ll still be up.”

“You worry too much,” Sebastian mutters as he eases the front door open.

“Everyone thinks they’re invincible when they’re fourteen.”

“Do I look fourteen to you?” Sebastian questions, offended.

Now Cooper smirks. “No, but I wanted to make sure you knew I could throw you off your game.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “I’m always on my game. I’m eighteen and undeniably hot and perfectly legal.”

“Except to go to the bar and drink,” Cooper drawls.

“So you agree to the undeniably hot part?”

“Oh my God, just go. I don’t think I’ve ever met someone as persistent as you,” Cooper laughs and shoves him out the door.

Sebastian smirks, but he’s a little light-headed. Very rarely has he ever had someone to banter with that actually laughs instead of getting flustered and the back-and-forth is getting to his head. He’s never felt so much like actually smiling.

“It was…interesting to meet you, Sebastian,” Cooper says as he leans against the doorway.

“I’m sure it was,” Sebastian retorts and is rewarded once again with Cooper’s smile and the shaking of his head.

Sebastian gets in his car and drives away from the Anderson home, only looking back once in his rearview mirror. He spends the drive to Dalton going over the conversation with Cooper. Since he is alone, he doesn’t bother trying to hide the small smile on his face.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my beta, misscorday!

It takes three days to hear from Blaine in the form of a text message. _Thanks. For Friday night_.

Sebastian immediately responds with _Sure_.

He doesn’t receive another reply and after a moment of debating decides not to say anything else either. He wants to push the issue, wants to gloat that he was the nice guy who took a drunken Blaine home without any molestation. Sebastian deserves a reward, right? But no…he’s come this far, he can wait a bit longer for Blaine to come to him.

And Blaine does. Maybe. Potentially. Okay, probably not. _Maybe_ Blaine guessed that Sebastian would be at Scandals again on Friday night and _maybe_ he expected to meet up with him. But Sebastian is intelligent enough to acknowledge that Blaine probably wouldn’t already be on his third beer if he had been waiting for Sebastian.

Sebastian sighs and ignores the ache in his chest as he orders a Diet Coke. The bartender raises his eyebrow at the request, but does as Sebastian asks. He sits down at the bar and watches Blaine throwing himself around on the dance floor in a way not even Sebastian can find adorable. It’s just pathetic really, though maybe he’s biased.

Single Blaine is supposed to be fun, ditching the drag of Kurt Hummel and letting loose. This isn’t fun for anyone, especially Sebastian.

He doesn’t know how long he’s been sitting at the stool, keeping an eye on Blaine when he is interrupted. “Hey there handsome,” a voice purrs in Sebastian’s ear. He turns, already knowing who he’s going to find.

“Eric,” Sebastian greets, not quite managing to keep the smirk off his face. He turns away from the dance floor, forgetting his mental promise of being the nice guy again.

“What say you and I head back to my place for a little fun, hm?” Eric continues, sidling up alongside Sebastian. He presses his body, barely covered in skin-tight jeans and thin white shirt, against Sebastian’s side and trails a hand down his arm.

And fuck yes, he wants to. But he takes a moment to look around, pretending to gauge his other options, even though he knows that Eric will be the best find tonight.

“I can even blow you in the car to start the night off right,” Eric says softly, his lips brushing tantalizingly against Sebastian’s ear.

Sebastian smirks. It’s the offer he was waiting for. “Let’s go,” he says. He stands from the bar, his hand coming up to squeeze Eric’s ass. He keeps it there, directing them out of the bar. They pull a few jealous glances as they walk out.

He is almost out the door when he sees it – or rather sees _him_. There’s a guy hitting on Blaine, crowding him back into the corner of the dance floor. It’s someone Sebastian doesn’t recognize, but he looks big enough to break Blaine in half if he wanted to.

But Eric’s ass is so hot and tight underneath his hand…fuck. Maybe Eric could at least blow him in the car or bathroom before Sebastian comes back to play nanny?

The guy puts his arm around Blaine’s shoulders as it’s obvious Blaine is having a hard time standing on his own. Stupid fucking slushie with this fucking guilt and fucking Blaine who can’t hold his fucking alcohol.

“What the hell?” Eric shouts after him as Sebastian rips away.

Sebastian just walks away, flipping him off over his shoulder as he goes to play knight in shining armor again.

“Off,” Sebastian snarls as he rips the guy’s hands off Blaine. He backs off at Sebastian’s glare, shuffling away and trying to look innocent. Not that Blaine notices. He’s been so wasted all night that Sebastian doubts that Blaine even knows that Sebastian is here.

“I don’t feel good,” Blaine moans as he sags into Sebastian’s arms.

Sebastian rolls his eyes but starts the process of dragging Blaine to his car. He passes Eric chatting up another twink and doesn’t feel at all remorseful when Blaine lets out another pained moan. This is why Sebastian doesn’t have friends.

Thirty minutes later Sebastian pulls up to the Anderson home. It’s earlier this time, only just past one, but thankfully the house is just as dark. He quickly digs the keys out of Blaine’s right pocket, unlocks the door, and hauls him inside.

Sebastian is biting his cheek to keep from muttering expletives as he makes his way to Blaine’s room. As he passes the entrance to the kitchen, he barely manages not to yelp in surprise as Cooper stands in the doorway. He does lose his grip on Blaine, though, who falls to the floor with a loud thump.

“Shit,” Sebastian lets loose louder than he intended.

Blaine moans from his position on the floor but makes no move to get up on his own.

“Again?” Cooper mutters as he crouches down next to Blaine. He picks up one arm and Sebastian picks up the other, together hauling Blaine back to his feet. The position is familiar as they once again shuffle Blaine back to his bedroom.

They dump Blaine on his bed, and Cooper removes Blaine’s shoes and throws a blanket over his form.

“He’s not as chatty this time,” Cooper comments as they exit Blaine’s room.

“I think he had more to drink.”

“Fuck,” Cooper replies, rubbing his forehead. “I’ll get the coffee started,” he continues as they head back to the kitchen.

“Don’t need it,” Sebastian says. Since he won’t have a nauseous Blaine in his backseat, he can drive as fast as he needs to. Get back to Scandals, find someone to get him off…

“Same deal as before, you aren’t leaving this house without coffee,” Cooper says. They enter the kitchen and Cooper goes to the cupboards and pulls out the coffee grounds.

“I didn’t drink anything,” Sebastian comments, finding the time displayed on the microwave. 1:24 a.m. Never mind. By the time he gets back to Scandals anyone worth fucking would already be taken.

Cooper pauses and analyzes him. Sebastian sighs, because who would believe that he went to a bar and didn’t drink alcohol? He barely believes it himself.

“Just give me the coffee,” Sebastian grumbles and takes the same seat on the stool. He notices that once again Cooper’s laptop is open and running on the counter.

“I don’t know why you hate hanging out with me so much. I think I’m much cooler than Blaine,” Cooper says lightly as he gets the coffee started.

“At least you’re sober.”

“Yeah,” Cooper agrees with a frown. “I should talk to him about that.”

Sebastian hums in agreement. He would tell Cooper what almost happened to Blaine tonight…but he doesn’t know if he can tell the story without his resentment at once again being interrupted shining through. He doesn’t think telling the story while being angry and not at all sympathetic or worried wouldn’t go over well with the big brother. Besides, Blaine probably won’t even remember and Cooper already said he’d talk to him about getting so drunk. Problem solved.

“Thanks again. For being there and bringing him back.”

“Yeah. Sure.”

“I’m assuming that Blaine messed up your plans again?” Cooper asks.

Sebastian analyzes Cooper carefully. The question is light, not sharp. It’s accompanied by a small smile, as if Cooper is making an inside joke. Well. Perhaps the older Anderson isn’t judging him…?

“Yes,” Sebastian admits, the word coming out more as a sigh than he intended.

Cooper chuckles. “And here I thought _I_ was his only cock-blocking target.”

Sebastian actually manages a small smile. The coffee finishes brewing and he accepts the mug that Cooper hands him.

“Sure you don’t want anything in that?” Cooper asks as he adds creamer and sugar to his own cup.

“I’m fine.”

This time it’s a comfortable silence that settles between them. The coffee steams in front of him and Sebastian takes in the smell. The smell of coffee relaxes him, and the knot in his stomach that’s existed since – well, since he saw Blaine wasted at Scandals again – disappears.

“So are you an insomniac or what?” Sebastian asks before he takes his first tentative sip of coffee.

“No,” Cooper chuckles, running his fingers around the rim of his mug. “I’m just working on something, and it goes faster if the house is quiet.”

Sebastian raises an eyebrow at the vague answer. He leans over to get a look at the computer screen because he’s built up enough nice guy points to blow a few on being rude. Cooper shuts the screen before Sebastian can see anything except text on Word document.

“Big brother keeping secrets?”

“Ha, ha,” Cooper deadpans.

“It was a good one,” Sebastian responds with a smile. He takes another small sip of too-hot coffee.

Cooper rolls his eyes. “It’s not a secret, just unfinished.”

“I figured,” Sebastian drawls because honestly, if it was finished Cooper wouldn’t be staying up until two a.m. trying to finish it.

“…Fine. Promise not to tell Blaine?”

Sebastian looks down at his mug. It isn’t really an issue – it’s not like he talks to Blaine and Blaine doesn’t talk to him, unless he’s drunk. I mean, yeah Sebastian had screwed things up with the slushie but doesn’t being his hero last Friday night deserve more than a four word text message?

“Sure, no problem,” Sebastian agrees quietly. He takes too big of a sip of scalding coffee, the burn down his throat distracting him from the one in his chest.

Cooper stares at him for a few moments with a frown before finally explaining. “It’s a story I’m working on – more of a script, really. For a TV show.”

“What’s it about?” Sebastian asks, genuinely curious. Why would Cooper want to hide this from Blaine?

Despite Cooper’s initial reluctance to talk about his ‘secret project,’ he’s remarkably forthcoming with what he’s been working on. It doesn’t take long for Sebastian to know the entire premise of the show, as well as the plotlines of the individual episodes. If Cooper hadn’t been so proud of his trail of secret clues throughout the episode that give a spectacular surprise ending, then Sebastian might have thought about watching it – if it ever aired. He might still watch it anyway just because Cooper would be acting in it himself, and Sebastian can admit that Cooper is very nice to look at.

Besides, cop shows happen to be a secret guilty pleasure of his. Sebastian can’t resist commenting on the names of the characters, though. Who would honestly want to root for a character named _Tom_? That’s so boring.

“And what, the guy’s name should be Sebastian?”

“Only if the actor meets the hotness standard.”

“And do I?” Cooper asks, eyebrow raised and smile quirked.

Sebastian takes the opportunity to obviously and thoroughly check Cooper out. Not like he’d miss a chance like that, though it only reminds him that he hasn’t gotten off without his hand in too long of a time.

“You’ll do,” Sebastian finally answers, his voice lower than usual.

Cooper smirks, keeping eye contact with Sebastian. For a moment Sebastian can imagine meeting Cooper at a bar (not Scandals). If Cooper didn’t know how old Sebastian is, or that he is a friend (yeah the fuck right) of Blaine’s. This is what Cooper would look like if he was hitting on Sebastian. And he would’ve jumped Cooper in a second.

Hell, he would jump him right now.

The moment ends when Cooper turns away, going to his coffee. This silence is much more awkward as Sebastian tries to erase his ‘what if’ fantasy from his mind. He settles for storing it for later.

Cooper clears his throat. “How do you feel about Neal?”

Sebastian thinks it over and wonders why Cooper even cares what some eighteen year old asshole thinks. “Better,” he says. “Way better than Tom.”

Cooper chuckles, and once again it makes Sebastian smile.

Sebastian persuades Cooper into telling him a bit more about the story, and he snickers at the two main characters, both male, that Cooper is describing.

“Got it,” Sebastian declares. “You don’t want Blaine to know about this because Neal and Peter are secretly hot for each other and you don’t want Blaine discovering your outlet for your repressed homosexual desires.”

“Shut up!” Cooper says, but he’s laughing. Sebastian is pleased at the reaction he caused and can’t stop the smirk on his face.

“Okay first, they are _not_ gay. Second, I have my reasons for not wanting Blaine to know and third, I do not have any ‘repressed homosexual desires.’”

Sebastian rolls his eyes at Cooper’s explanation. He takes another sip of his coffee, only just then noticing that it is empty.

“Need more coffee?” Cooper asks quietly, staring at the mug.

Sebastian’s brain feels sluggish as he weighs his options. “Uh…uh no. I should go,” he says, standing up from his stool. Asking for more coffee so he can stay longer just makes him look desperate.

“Okay,” Cooper says and takes both of their mugs to the sink. Sebastian can’t help but notice he doesn’t sound disappointed. Not relieved either, but not disappointed.

Sebastian walks to the front door with Cooper trailing behind him.

“Um…thanks for the coffee,” Sebastian mutters back over his shoulder as he opens the front door. He can’t remember the last time he said the word ‘thanks,’ but it kind of just rolled off his tongue. He’s just repeating what Cooper told him last time, he thinks. Not that he remembers exactly, of course.

“Anytime,” Cooper responds. Sebastian cocks his eyebrow, a smirk growing on his face. “Wait, I take that back,” Cooper continues. “Not just any time.”

Sebastian chuckles. Bantering he can handle. “If you gave me your number I could call before I came over.”

“Not a chance,” Cooper says with a smile. He stays in the doorway as Sebastian walks to his car.

“Hey Sebastian!” Cooper calls out so he turns back. “Just to clarify, _none_ of my homosexual desires are repressed.”

Sebastian almost trips on the sidewalk. He understands the implication.

“Drive safe,” Cooper finishes with a smirk before closing the door.

“Fucking tease,” Sebastian mutters, turning back to his car. His cheeks are flushed when he climbs into the vehicle though it has nothing to do with the cold. It is much, much harder to concentrate on the road back to Dalton than it was last week.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to misscorday for betaing!

_Thanks again._

_Sure._

And once again, nothing. This is not the Blaine Anderson who used to debate football verses lacrosse or listen to Sebastian’s fascinating tales of European adventures. This is not the Blaine Anderson that used to quote cheesy Disney movies and then shame Sebastian for having not remembered which one it came from or, oh heavens, not having seen the movie at all. No, this Blaine Anderson doesn’t speak much less sing and Sebastian is contemplating taking away his ‘sex on a stick’ privileges.

He isn’t surprised that when he shows up at Scandals the next Friday, Blaine is there. Drunk. What he can’t understand is that it doesn’t hurt as much as it did before. Yeah, he hates seeing someone like Kurt Hummel – the _loss_ of him even – reduce Blaine to such a mess. But his chest doesn’t hurt, and that’s a definite plus. He’s glad that’s finally gone now. He sees Blaine move to the dance floor, but Sebastian goes to the bar instead.

He orders a beer. Blaine might once again mess up his sex life – though there’s probably time for a quickie in the bathroom – but he isn’t going to completely waste his Friday night just because Blaine is still hung up (and tomorrow he’ll be hung over) on an ex.

So he drinks (only a little so he can still drive later) and then dances, teasing and flirting and showcasing exactly what his hips can do. He’s received multiple signals, whispers in his ear and touches on his skin, that invite him to come with to the bathroom, to a backseat of a car, to a bed.

But song change after song change, Sebastian stays on the dance floor. He keeps an eye on Blaine which is easy enough since he flails around enough to create a huge space around him. He knows he has time to get off in the bathroom at least once before Blaine starts to keel over from too much alcohol. He just doesn’t. And he doesn’t want to think about why.

He’s almost impatient, watching Blaine go back to the bar and get another drink. Sebastian should probably stop him as Blaine is already going to wake up in pain tomorrow, but doesn’t. He’s already being the nice guy, no need to overdo it. Besides, the more Blaine drinks the quieter he is on the way home.

But the sooner they leave…Sebastian has already decided that he’s going to have two cups of coffee tonight. Decision made, he grabs Blaine before he finishes that next drink.

“You…You’re so awesome, Sebastian,” Blaine croaks from the passenger seat.

“Sure, Killer,” Sebastian responds, rolling his eyes.

“You… _you_ take me h-home. Even though I…I ch…che…”

“Cheated,” Sebastian finishes for him.

Blaine starts sobbing again and Sebastian sighs.

“Look,” he says. He tries for compassionate and thinks he at least manages not-scathing. “You fucked up. Obviously. But if you don’t get your shit together you’re going to end up being another alcoholic who gets plastered every Friday night at a hick bar and never make it out of Ohio.”

When Blaine only cries harder, Sebastian decides he should give up with his method of consoling.

This time when Sebastian pulls up to the Anderson house, Cooper opens the front door to greet them.

“We’ve got to stop meeting like this,” Cooper tries to joke but it falls flat as he helps Sebastian carry Blaine into the house.

They don’t speak again – though Blaine is muttering something about Ohio and New York – until they’ve deposited Blaine in his bedroom and head to the kitchen.

As the coffee brews Cooper throws name after name at Sebastian, trying to find some that sound ‘right’ as the characters in his script. Sebastian once again wonders why the hell Cooper would even care what he thinks, but has fun vetoing the creatively bad ( _very_ bad) names that Cooper can come up with.

“Well why don’t you offer some suggestions then?” Cooper asks, fingers running through his hair in exasperation.

Sebastian sighs and tries to think up some actual good ones. It’s harder than he expected, and maybe he should’ve given Cooper more credit for the ones he came up with. For the most part, the names Sebastian comes up with are French and he knows Cooper can tell by the look he gives him. Whatever. Cooper is the creative screen writer, not him.

Sebastian watches Cooper type a few of Sebastian’s suggestions on his ‘Names of Characters’ document. He formatted all the other options that Sebastian vetoed so that they had a line striking through them. Cooper never erases ideas, Sebastian discovered. He also doesn’t organize his documents into folders so Sebastian gets a headache just looking at Cooper’s (lack of) organizational system.

“Okay, enough critiquing of my masterpiece. Your turn.”

“My turn?” Sebastian stalls and takes a sip of coffee.

“Absolutely. But since I assume you don’t have any characters you’re trying to name, you can start by telling me your middle name so I can make fun of it,” Cooper says with a smirk.

“No.” Sebastian’s response is immediate and final.

“Oh now I’m really curious.”

“No,” Sebastian refuses again.

“Oh come on. I promise I won’t tell. Cross my heart and hope to die.”

Sebastian rolls his eyes. “You are such a girl. A middle school girl.”

“You’re the one afraid to say your middle name in case you get teased on the playground. Come on, just tell me.”

“…Orion,” Sebastian finally confesses with a sigh.

“That’s …unusual,” Cooper says hesitantly.

Sebastian waits for it to sink in.

“Wait…does that make your initials SOS?” Cooper doesn’t wait for Sebastian to nod in agreement before he bursts out laughing. “Oh God! That’s hilarious. Your parents deserve an award.”

“Shut up,” Sebastian growls but it doesn’t have any real heat. Cooper’s laugh makes him want to smile, even if Cooper is laughing at his middle name.

“Your turn,” he grumbles before hiding behind his coffee mug.

“Aw, did I embarrass Sebastian Orion Smythe?” Cooper teases. Cooper starts laughing again when Sebastian just flips him off.

Sebastian learns that Cooper currently works on advertising and marketing strategies for companies, including directing some commercials (rare) and starring in others (infrequent). His dream, however, and where he wants to take his script is to Hollywood and become an actual actor (along with directing and writing his own scripts, apparently). He majored in marketing with a minor in theater at Ohio State, and is just staying home to build up a cash reserve before he lives off of nothing in L.A. to try to make it big.

Sebastian doesn’t believe him – his show takes place in New York, after all, and that’s where he’ll have to be. Cooper gives him one of his wide, genuine smiles at the vote of confidence, though Sebastian hadn’t really thought about it as such when it slipped out.

Sebastian, in turn, was prompted to share about his own life. He tries to stay away from talking about lacrosse or the Warblers or homework since it only reminds him that he is eighteen compared to Cooper’s twenty-six. He talks about when he lives in Paris and gives Cooper a demonstration of his fluent French (and with the light of the laptop screen, Sebastian sees the flush on Cooper’s face and smirks). He talks about his day trips to London and the time he went skinny-dipping in the ocean just outside Barcelona.  Then he tries to feed Cooper a story about being asked to join One Direction outside of a club in London, but Cooper doesn’t believe him.

“You are something else,” Cooper says with a laugh. “More coffee?” he offers when he sees Sebastian toying with the mug.

“Sure,” Sebastian nonchalantly says with a shrug. Absolutely no big deal. None.

Cooper smiles and shakes his head, but pours Sebastian another cup.

Sebastian learns that Blaine doesn’t know about Cooper’s dream to move to Hollywood. Cooper had promised not to abandon Blaine after something happened freshman year (Sebastian thinks it’s the reason Blaine originally transferred to Dalton though he’s only heard rumors) but now feels guilty that he is planning on it, as soon as he can get a decent few episodes written down and take a few acting classes.

“But Blaine is going to college next fall,” Sebastian points out.

“Well…yeah…”

“He’s probably going to go pine after his ex in New York. Wow. Now why does that place sound familiar?”

Cooper smiles at the sarcasm. Sebastian rolls his eyes because of course dramatics run in the Anderson family. He can’t imagine staying in Ohio longer than necessary for any reason.

Sebastian learns that Cooper likes to talk. He also learns that he doesn’t mind letting him, which is the most surprising. Before he knows it, it’s already past three in the morning.

“I should go,” Sebastian interrupts and stands.

“Shit,” Cooper says when he looks at the time. “It’s…wow. Are you okay to drive? Maybe you should stay.”

“I drank your mandatory coffee. _Twice_ ,” Sebastian says but doesn’t move to leave just yet.

“Well yes, but…it’s really late. I would feel better if you stayed,” Cooper says, standing and looking concerned.

“I guess it depends, then.” Sebastian decides to go for it, and licks his lips. “Where would you like me to stay?” He takes a step toward Cooper, a small smirk on his face and green eyes staring into blue.

Sebastian sees Cooper freeze. He immediately fakes a chuckle. He grabs his coffee mug and steps around Cooper to go place it in the sink. “Relax,” Sebastian drawls. “It was just a joke.”

Cooper unfreezes but Sebastian can sense the difference in the silence. It’s back to awkward, but he can’t regret trying.

“I would lock you in the guest room for sure,” Cooper finally says to break the silence.

“Pity.” Sebastian pauses next to Cooper by the front door.

“I’d like to protect my virtue.”

“I think it’s a little late for that, but good luck.” And, what the hell. He’s been building up too many nice guy points. Sebastian steps forward to go out the door and intentionally lets his hand graze Cooper’s ass.

Cooper immediately shoves Sebastian away, but he’s laughing so Sebastian thinks it’s a good sign. He just winks before continuing to leave. His hand tingles from the feel of Cooper’s ass – and God, it is such a gorgeous ass. No regrets, whatsoever.

He is very much looking forward to next Friday.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my fantastic beta, misscorday!!

_Thank you for last Friday._

_Sure._

_No, really. I vaguely remember saying you were awesome? Maybe? I meant it._

_Thanks, Killer. Hope the hangover didn’t kill you._

_Haha._

Sebastian is surprised that this conversation is longer. Blaine is apparently going to acknowledge that Sebastian has saved his drunken ass for the last three weeks straight. Finally. Well, he assumes that the acknowledgement is there in the ‘you’re awesome’ statement that Blaine originally said when he was drunk.

On Thursday, he even receives another text. _Are you going to Scandals again tomorrow?_

_Yeah. Why?_ Sebastian replies.

_Wanted to know. Cooper doesn’t think I can control myself if I go alone._

_That’s obvious_ , Sebastian texts back.

_:(_

Sebastian rolls his eyes. Hopefully Cooper has made Blaine realize that he has been completely out of control. Even Sebastian has never gotten that drunk that often – he hates hangovers.

Then Sebastian enters Scandals on Friday night, he doesn’t see Blaine. He frowns and ignores his disappointment as he goes up to the bar and orders a drink. Then Blaine suddenly pops up at his elbow – when he isn’t flailing around and causing people to actively avoid him, he easily disappears into the crowd.

“Hey!” Blaine says and Sebastian thinks he’s only tipsy instead of drunk. Progress.

“Hey Killer,” Sebastian says with a small smile. He pays the bartender for his drink and takes a sip, scanning the crowd.

“Dance with me.”

Sebastian looks down at Blaine and blinks. “What?” he asks, though he heard Blaine’s order the first time.

“Dance with me.” Now Blaine is pouting.

“…I’m going to finish this first,” Sebastian says, because he just bought the beer. Also Blaine’s flailing hands that he’s observed the past few weeks are a little intimidating to dance with.

Blaine stares at him and he manages, for the first time ever, to put Sebastian on edge. He takes another sip of his drink and keeps his eyes above Blaine’s head.

“Come on,” Blaine whines. “Finish it already.”

Sebastian looks down at Blaine with a raised eyebrow. “Go dance by yourself, I’ll join you when I’m done,” he says blandly. He isn’t chugging his beer for Blaine.

Instead, Blaine buys another drink. Solid choice. Blaine still manages to finish his drink before Sebastian, but Sebastian can’t bring himself to care. He didn’t come here to get drunk.

He sighs as he follows Blaine out onto the dance floor. Blaine doesn’t flail around as usual, Sebastian is thankful, and they end up actually dancing together. Sebastian smirks as Blaine blushes whenever Sebastian breaks the careful distance that Blaine maintains. This is the old Blaine Anderson.

He breaks the barrier again and brushes up against Blaine, who rapidly backpedals. Sebastian chuckles at his red face but doesn’t chase him. Someone else – Sebastian doesn’t bother looking – comes up behind him and grips his hips, changing his rhythm to match their own. Sebastian lets it happen since the grip isn’t too forceful and as the guy presses his chest against Sebastian’s back, he feels fit.

“Fuck, I’d bet you take it so well,” is whispered into his ear. Sebastian smirks, not because he’s turned on but because it’s so cliché. He hears this crap every week. “Don’t you want my cock, filling you all up nice and full?” The guy grinds into his ass, but Sebastian isn’t looking to get off tonight. Well…he can hope, but it wouldn’t be realistic.

"Try your hand,” Sebastian shoots back before pulling away.  Blaine has disappeared into the crowd again and Sebastian hopes he hasn’t tried to drive home already. Besides, while he isn’t plastered he’s definitely too drunk to drive.

He finds Blaine back at the bar, ordering another drink.

“I would think the hangovers every morning would get annoying,” Sebastian comments as Blaine pays for his beer.

“Really? I would think the same would be true for grinding with old perverts,” Blaine snaps back.

Sebastian frowns but doesn’t retreat in the wake of Blaine’s outburst. He merely watches Blaine as he flushes red and turns away, eyes downcast. The bottle is clenched tightly in Blaine’s fist, so tightly his knuckles are white.

When Blaine continues to stare at the floor and says nothing, Sebastian slips back into the crowd at the dance floor. Three weeks ago he would’ve snapped back at Blaine’s judgment, tried to make him apologize, but now he just finds the whole business tedious. He’s tired of the pretense that surrounds his entire visit to Scandals, and that’s what Blaine feels like now. Pretense.

Awhile later has Sebastian searching for Blaine again. He hadn’t been keeping a close eye on him, and Cooper is going to kill him if something has happened. Of course, he’d actually have to have a reason to show up at the Anderson house without Blaine, first. Sebastian quickly checks the bathroom, but Blaine isn’t stuck mortified in one of the stalls because of a blow job going on beside the urinals. Another sweep of the dance floor has him coming up empty. He strides for the parking lot.

“Blaine!” Sebastian calls. There’s a small figure standing beside what could be Blaine’s car – it’s too dark to tell. Sebastian jogs over as the figure drops their keys.

It’s Blaine.

“What the hell are you doing?” Sebastian says. Blaine picks up his keys but Sebastian rips them out of his hand. “Are you fucking stupid? You’re drunk!”

“Leave me alone, Sebastian!” Blaine shouts loudly. “I need to – I can’t – ”

“You aren’t fucking driving. Get in my car,” Sebastian growls and drags Blaine over to his own vehicle by the back of his collar.

“I just…I can’t do this anymore,” Blaine whines. “It hurts, it hurts so much.”

Sebastian unlocks his car and opens the passenger door for Blaine. More gently then he thought he was capable of, he helps Blaine into the seat.

“It wouldn’t hurt if you drank less,” Sebastian mutters as he buckles Blaine in.

“No, it’s K…Kurt. It hurts. It still hurts and I can’t take it anymore. I can’t,” Blaine says, grabbing one of Sebastian’s hands and holding him there.

“Just let it go,” Sebastian sighs, and he’s half talking about his hand and half talking about Blaine’s cheating.

“Y-you…you are so…” Blaine trails. Sebastian doesn’t wait for Blaine to finish because then Blaine lets go of his hand. Sebastian shuts the passenger door and goes over to the driver’s side, getting in.

Blaine doesn’t finish his sentence the entire drive back to the Anderson house, but Sebastian doesn’t really want to know what Blaine thinks. Last week it was ‘awesome’ but this time it’s probably ‘slutty.’ Neither of them speaks the entire way, the only sound coming from the radio.

Blaine is able to get out of the car himself this time and manages to walk alone up to his house. Sebastian trails behind him, wondering if he’s supposed to just leave since he doesn’t need to carry Blaine inside.

Cooper opens the front door for them again. Blaine looks at the ground and trudges right past him without saying a word. Cooper looks to Sebastian, but he just shrugs. Then he stands in front of the door, wondering if he should turn around and go back to his car.

“Come on. Mandatory coffee, remember?” Cooper says softly, gesturing inside.

“Of course,” Sebastian sighs, but then he mirrors Cooper’s small smile.

The silence isn’t uncomfortable, which is the best case scenario realistically. The best case scenario _fantasy_ version is where Cooper takes him back to his room and fucks him all night long. Worst case is getting the door slammed in his face, so he’ll take the realistic version.

“Shaping up for Sectionals?” Cooper starts the conversation as they wait for the coffee to brew. This time he is sitting on the stool right next to Cooper, just far enough away to give them each their personal space.

“Hm? Oh…yeah. Hunter has us all on a tight leash,” Sebastian says with a grimace. But he doesn’t want to talk about anything that reminds either of them that Sebastian is still in high school, so he quickly turns the conversation to Cooper’s script.

It works perfectly – once Cooper starts talking about his dream it’s hard to get him to stop. Sebastian thinks that because Cooper wants to keep it a secret, he doesn’t get to talk about it much. That works for Sebastian – he’s actually getting turned on. Not because of the words because that’d be stupid, but because Cooper looks gorgeous when he’s passionate. The sound of his voice, the way his face lights up, that his smile is extra wide, and his hands keep moving continuously to explain. He especially likes to point, Sebastian notices.

Sebastian has been turned on _lots_ of times, but never just by listening to someone talk about dead bodies and crime.

“I’m rambling, aren’t I?” Cooper says with a grimace after finishing one of his stories.

Sebastian chuckles. “Yes.”

“The polite thing to do would to tell me no.”

It doesn’t take long for Sebastian to debate his options. It’s worth it. He licks his lips. “If I was polite,” he says softly, “then I wouldn’t do this.”

He leans toward Cooper, looking from his eyes to his mouth. There’s no protest – Cooper says nothing and he doesn’t move away. Sebastian tilts his head and brushes his lips softly against Cooper’s. His eyes close as he does it again and then again, before finally Cooper’s hand cups his cheek and brings them together more firmly.

There’s no tongue, no moans, no teeth. Just Cooper’s lips moving slowly but firmly against his. It is the chastest kiss he’s ever received, but it is far from bad. There’s still a tempered heat running through his body, starting at his mouth and ending at his groin.  

Cooper pulls back slightly but his hand keeps Sebastian in place. “We shouldn’t be doing this,” he whispers against Sebastian’s mouth. Cooper’s thumb caresses his cheek. He isn’t being pushed away; instead their breaths continue to mingle in the small space between them. And no, they probably shouldn’t, but Sebastian doesn’t care. Cooper doesn’t seem to care either, as Sebastian kisses him again and he responds just as eagerly.

It isn’t until Sebastian’s hand starts creeping up Cooper’s thigh that Cooper pushes Sebastian back. He plucks Sebastian’s hand off his leg and puts it on the counter.

“Nice try,” Cooper drawls.

“It was worth a shot,” Sebastian says with a shrug. He can’t keep the smile off his face, though he doesn’t care too much because it seems as if Cooper is the same. Then Sebastian has to look away because no one has ever looked at him like Cooper is now, and he doesn’t know what it is. It’s similar to Blaine’s look of wonderment when Sebastian originally met him but yet it’s different.

“You are…something else,” Cooper murmurs.

 The temptation arises to say something explicit. The words are at the tip of his tongue, a jumble of dirty phrases about how Cooper hasn’t seen anything yet but if he took Sebastian to the bedroom, he’d be glad to show him. Or the kitchen counter would work too.

He decides to kiss Cooper instead of talking because that always works better for him.

Sebastian doesn’t like compromising. He likes getting his way, and he likes kissing Cooper. Unfortunately that’s not how the rest of the night goes because Cooper likes to talk (though Sebastian sees evidence that Cooper likes kissing him too). They can’t do both at once as Cooper doesn’t let Sebastian kiss anything besides his mouth…yet.

The night ends up being a compromise between talking and kissing, despite Sebastian’s best efforts. He counts the French kiss a major victory though. He also counts it a major win that’s he’s distracted Cooper enough throughout the evening for him not to notice that Sebastian hasn’t had that cup of coffee. Can he win and compromise at the same time?

“I should go,” Sebastian finally interrupts Cooper. He has Warbler practice in less than six hours and Hunter is extra brutal whenever he decides they need extra Saturday practice.

“Oh…yeah,” Cooper says, slumping when he sees the time.

There’s another fairly lengthy make-out session at the front door before Sebastian leaves. _Don’t freak out,_ Sebastian thinks as he walks away from the Anderson home. He’s extremely familiar with becoming a regret in the daylight and hopes this isn’t the case with Cooper. A week has never seemed like such a long time.

Blaine texts Sebastian on Wednesday. _Hey. Are you going to be at Scandals on Friday?_

_Yes_ , Sebastian responds.

_Me too. But I’m not getting drunk this time_

Sebastian raises his eyebrows. _You always get drunk_.

_Not this time. I’ve got Cooper really worried, and yeah those hangovers just get really annoying._

“Fuck,” Sebastian hisses. Taking the drunken Blaine home is his excuse for going over to the Anderson’s. If Cooper is talking Blaine out of getting drunk again on Friday…does that mean he doesn’t want to see Sebastian?

_K_ is all Sebastian can manage to respond. He expects that to be the end of the conversation, and the silence lasts for awhile. When his phone vibrates again, he didn’t expect it to be Blaine but it is.

_And I think I want to get on with my life. I can’t handle feeling like this anymore._

_Good_ , Sebastian is slow to type out and send. He doesn’t like seeing Blaine like he has been the past few times at Scandals. He’s partly relieved and partly annoyed that Kurt Hummel has dramatically affected Blaine more than Sebastian and the slushie incident. Okay, definitely mostly relieved. The emotional fallout from the slushie is nothing compared to this. Sebastian is glad that Blaine is finally recovering.

He just wishes it didn’t interfere with his ability to see Cooper.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A big thank you to my fantastic beta, misscorday :)

For the first time, Sebastian arrives at Scandals and Blaine isn’t there. His stomach drops, because maybe Cooper kept Blaine back, maybe they were using brotherly bonding techniques to get Blaine over his emotional crisis, maybe Cooper was pulling out everything he could think of to not see Sebastian again.

Then Blaine walks through the door with a bounce in his step. Sebastian sighs in relief because at least Cooper didn’t go to drastic lengths to avoid him. But now he has to institute his plan to make sure he still has a reason to go over to the Anderson’s and see Cooper.

“Hey Sebastian!” Blaine greets as he walks up next to him at the bar.

“Hey Killer,” Sebastian says, a small smirk on his face.

Blaine smiles and Sebastian thinks he can see a slight flush on his face. “Um…did you want to dance?” Blaine asks, meeting Sebastian’s gaze quickly before staring out at the dance floor.

“I’m going to get a drink first,” Sebastian declines, because he’s not sure that once Blaine goes to the dance floor if he’ll be able to get him to come back to the bar. “Did you want something?”

“Um…I shouldn’t. I promised Cooper,” Blaine stutters. When Sebastian just tilts his head and looks at Blaine, though, Blaine quickly folds. “But just one can’t hurt right?”

Sebastian signals the bartender and orders a drink.

“Wait, this one is on me,” Sebastian says, stopping Blaine from placing his own order.

“Okay,” Blaine says with a small smile.

Sebastian smirks back and orders a drink for Blaine.

A few moments later, Sebastian accepts his beer and then a glass for Blaine’s drink.

“What is it?” Blaine asks as he takes the drink Sebastian hands to him.

“Long Island Iced Tea. I think you’ll like it.” It just so happens that the drink is also stronger than a lot of what Blaine has been drinking before.

Blaine takes a sip. “Mmm. It’s good!”

“Easy there, Killer,” Sebastian warns as Blaine takes a much larger gulp the next time. He wants Blaine intoxicated enough so that he can’t drive, not completely trashed.

Blaine waves off his concern, though he does slow down his drinking.

It takes a surprisingly short amount of time before Sebastian is helping Blaine walk out of the bar. There’s some guilt lying at the bottom of his stomach that unsettles him, but Blaine ordered the second Long Island Iced Tea all on his own (when Sebastian wasn’t paying attention). It isn’t _entirely_ Sebastian’s fault that Blaine is once again drunk after promising that he wouldn’t.

“I love firdays,” Blaine claims as Sebastian pulls out of the parking lot.

“Fridays,” Sebastian corrects absentmindedly as he tries to prepare himself for Cooper’s reaction. There’s no way Cooper would know that Sebastian instigated Blaine’s drinking, though there is the rare chance that Blaine mentions something about Sebastian introducing him to the drink.

Blaine continues to babble about random things, though fortunately none of it is related to Kurt or cheating. Sebastian tunes him out, turning on the radio so there is something else for him to listen to.

It is the earliest that Sebastian has ever come back to the Andersons. When he sees that some of the lights are still on, he realizes that it is possible that the Anderson parents are still awake and Sebastian is about to deliver a drunk Blaine right to them.

“When do your parents go to sleep?” Sebastian questions Blaine.

Blaine giggles. “Why so interested? That’s weird! They’re my parents.”

“Answer me, Blaine.”

“Gone, gone, gone,” Blaine hums in some weird tune Sebastian doesn’t recognize. “Weekend resort trip. Gone, gone, gone.”

Just Cooper, then. Good.

“Come on, out of the car,” Sebastian encourages Blaine as he gets out of his car. Sebastian makes it over to the passenger side and catches Blaine when he trips. Sebastian is definitely going to just get Cooper’s number so he can circumvent Blaine in all this (if, IF everything turns out like he hopes).

Sebastian helps Blaine waddle up to the front door, and this time instead of digging for Blaine’s keys Sebastian just knocks. A few moments later, Cooper answers the door.

Sebastian schools his face to indifference as Cooper frowns at them. “Blaine, you promised,” he sighs.

“Sorry, sorry,” Blaine says but it isn’t his sorrowful and emotional drunk voice. It’s too chipper. “But they were so tasty! I want another one.”

“This is getting serious,” Cooper says and finally helps Sebastian get Blaine into the house.

They get Blaine settled in his bedroom. Cooper goes back to give him some water and aspirin while Sebastian just awkwardly stands next to the coffeemaker. After fidgeting for a few moments, he decides to go ahead and start making some. He did have a beer, after all, and the excuse of the coffee is a nice reason to insist on staying.

“Okay, Blaine is now forbidden from bars,” Cooper says as he comes back into the kitchen.

Sebastian waits for it, but Cooper doesn’t say anything about the fact that the coffeemaker is already going. He just steps up next to Sebastian and grabs two coffee mugs in preparation.

“He said he just wanted to go there to dance and that he wasn’t going to drink. He _promised_ ,” Cooper sighs, rubbing his face.

“Maybe this time he’ll listen,” Sebastian offers, though instead he is keenly aware of next Friday night and how he won’t have a reason to take Blaine home if Blaine doesn’t show up to Scandals.

“I hope so. Either that or I’m taking him to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings.”

Cooper pours the coffee when it’s finished brewing. He adds his usual creamer and sugar while Sebastian keeps his black.

“Let’s go to the living room,” Cooper says as Sebastian moves to sit on his usual stool.

Sebastian nods, though worries at this change of routine. He follows Cooper to the living room, and the TV is going and he can see Cooper’s laptop on the coffee table. When Cooper takes a seat on the couch instead of in an armchair, Sebastian starts to hope.

He sits next to Cooper, though he leaves a couple of inches of distance between them. He sets his mug down on the coffee table. He rolls his eyes but complies as Cooper hands him a coaster to put under his drink.

“I’ve had awhile to think on this so I’m just going to get right to it rather than making small talk about the weather, okay?” Cooper starts out asking.

Sebastian nods, but then looks at the TV instead of at Cooper. In his peripheral vision he notices Cooper pretending to pay attention to the screen as well as he talks.

“You’re…a hell of a lot younger than I am. You’re one of Blaine’s friends. I feel like a creepy old man taking advantage of you.”

Sebastian snorts and ignores the sinking feeling in his chest.

“But…fuck it all, I like you anyway.”

Sebastian lets a harsh laugh escape him and turns to Cooper. He knows a smile is growing on his face, but it’s alright because there’s a matching one on Cooper’s.

“It sounds like an awesome movie plotline anyway,” Cooper continues and that’s when Sebastian knows for sure that Cooper is willing to ignore everything else.

Sebastian immediately leans over and kisses Cooper, a little awkwardly at first since Cooper wasn’t expecting it but they fix that soon enough. Sebastian has a really hard time trying to keep from smiling and ruining the kiss, and eventually he just fails.

Cooper pulls back with a small chuckle. “I take it you’re okay with this, then?”

“Yeah,” Sebastian answers. He shifts closer to Cooper and enjoys the way they can be pressed side by side on the couch as he leans in for another kiss. Cooper meets him half-way and one of his hands runs down Sebastian’s side to settle at his hip.

It takes Sebastian by surprise how much he enjoys kissing Cooper. He likes kissing, but it has always just been the premise to the major event of sex. Kissing Cooper wouldn’t compare to having sex with Cooper, but he really enjoys kissing by itself anyway.

Cooper tugs Sebastian closer, and Sebastian swings one leg over to the other side of Cooper and straddles him so he can keep his balance. Sebastian settles on Cooper’s lap, and he gasps as they press together firmly from hip to chest. Then, Cooper pushes Sebastian back a little, giving them a moment to breathe.

“Wait, before I forget,” Cooper says. “Next Friday. Skip the bar. We’ll go do something.”

“Are you asking me out?” Sebastian laughs.

“Yes,” Cooper answers. The confident response throws Sebastian off for a moment. He doesn’t usually get ‘asked out,’ not since guys realized that Sebastian would sleep with them if he wanted to without the necessity of eating dinner first.

“Okay,” Sebastian responds with a small smile. “But I think that means you’ll have to give me your number after all.”

Cooper chuckles. He lifts his hips as he digs his phone out of his pocket and the friction has Sebastian digging his fingers into Cooper’s biceps and trying to even out his breathing. Cooper’s smirk shows no remorse and so Sebastian kisses him dirty and deep in retaliation. It doesn’t help his composure at all, but at least he isn’t alone with that problem.

Numbers are exchanged but clothes stay on, and eventually Sebastian is removed from Cooper’s lap. It’s another compromise, Sebastian reckons as he sips at his now lukewarm coffee and half-watches some old black and white movie that Cooper idolizes. He has a date for next Friday though, an official date, so he still feels like he’s winning in the overall scheme of things. 

Cooper does the whole, fake yawn and settles his arm on the back of the couch but slides down to around Sebastian’s shoulders and then pulls him in closer, romantic comedy thing. Sebastian rolls his eyes but smiles into his next sip of coffee.

He’s definitely winning. 


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to my wonderful beta, misscorday!

Sebastian doesn’t realize that he doesn’t know what he’s doing until it’s Friday evening, about thirty minutes before he’s supposed to meet Cooper for their date. He doesn’t know what to wear, he doesn’t know what they’re doing, and he doesn’t know what he’s going to say. He has never felt like such a teenage girl in his life and he hates this feeling.

He is just picking up his phone to text Cooper and cancel their date when Hunter walks into their room.

“Whoa, what’s wrong with you?” Hunter asks. It’s a legitimate question as it seems like half of Sebastian’s closet is splayed out across his bed.

“Nothing,” Sebastian clips. He is not explaining to Hunter Clarington that he is freaking out about a date. Absolutely not.

“Right,” Hunter says but it is obvious he doesn’t believe him. “Is whatever this is the reason you’ve been on cloud nine all week?”

“Shut up,” Sebastian growls.

Hunter’s smirk is just as annoying as any words he could have said. The desire to get away from his roommate – who he normally (surprisingly) gets along with – is what prompts him to just decide on jeans and a decent-looking polo. He grabs his keys, wallet, and coat and heads out the door without saying goodbye.

He leaves Dalton earlier then he had planned thanks to Hunter, and drives around Westerville for awhile before he is a fashionably five minutes late to the address Cooper had texted him – the parking lot outside of the Westerville hockey arena.

Sebastian tries to erase his scowl as he pulls in. He hates hockey.

He enters the lobby of the arena anyway, though he debates just leaving right now. He doesn’t like hockey, his stomach is doing flips, and he now understands why he hasn’t done the whole dating thing before.

“Sebastian! Hey,” Cooper calls, approaching from the side. He’s beaming and looks absolutely delicious, and Sebastian hates that he might just be willing to force himself to go through with this simply because it’s Cooper.

“Hey,” Sebastian greets. The small smile on his face doesn’t nearly match Cooper’s, but it’s genuine.

“Do you know how to skate? I probably should’ve asked that before,” Cooper says as he drags Sebastian farther into the arena.

“Uh…yeah. I can stay upright, at least,” Sebastian explains. He’s taken aback by Cooper’s enthusiasm, and he’s dreading the enthusiasm over the game of hockey.

“Great! There’s an open skating at one the rinks. Most people will be at the hockey game, so it won’t be too crowded.”

A wider, more genuine smile spreads across Sebastian’s face as he realizes that he won’t have to decide between faking interest in hockey and just ditching the date. He lets Cooper pull him along to the back rink, bypassing the entrance to the hockey game.

There is a brief tussle over who pays for the renting of the skates, with Sebastian insisting they split while Cooper wants to pay for it all. Sebastian wins, citing the argument that Cooper is making him feel like a girl. Cooper mutters that he’s still paying for dessert later as Sebastian hands over his money to the very amused attendant.

“Have fun,” she giggles as she hands over their skates.

Sebastian rolls his eyes, but Cooper gives her a wide smile and a polite ‘thank you.’

They sit side by side on the bench as they put on their skates, Sebastian wondering how good of a skater Cooper is now. He doesn’t want to make a fool of himself, but he hasn’t skated for awhile and he’s never been fantastic. Cooper is faster at putting on his skates, and doesn’t wait for Sebastian and goes immediately goes to the ice.

Sebastian breathes a sigh of relief as Cooper is definitely wobbly with his first steps.

He finishes lacing up his skates and then joins Cooper on the ice. He’s a bit unstable too, but there aren’t very many people around to see him. Cooper was right, there’s only a few other people out on the ice, and fortunately not all of them are couples.

They skate the first lap together, both more focused on trying to remain upright and get used to skating then on talking to each other. After it seems they’ve both gotten back in the swing of things, though, Sebastian challenges, “Race you.”

“Two laps,” Cooper returns with a smirk.

Sebastian doesn’t even bother to agree before he picks up his pace, leaving Cooper behind.

“Hey! That’s cheating!” Cooper calls, but Sebastian just laughs.

Sebastian is winning by quite a lead, but then takes one of the turns too fast and slams into the boards. Cooper just laughs as he passes him by, and ends up crossing the arbitrary finish line first.

“Champion!” Cooper cheers as Sebastian skates up to him.

“Rematch,” Sebastian demands.

Cooper must agree, because he immediately takes off. Sebastian laughs as he gives chase.

Their rematches don’t end until they’re both flushed, panting, and one of the attendants (though not the one who gave them their skates) comes down and chastises them for disturbing the other skaters. Most of the other skaters had at that point been cheering for whoever was behind during the races, but it gives them an opportunity to call it quits without admitting defeat. Cooper is ahead by one race, but fortunately he only gloats a little.

He uses the ego boost to attempt some sort of jumping spin trick (Sebastian thinks that is in the intention, anyway) and lands flat on his ass. Sebastian can’t resist chuckling as he skates over to Cooper and helps him up.

“Not quite what I was going for,” Cooper admits with a sheepish grin.

“Oh, it was a fairly impressive fall anyway,” Sebastian teases. He tries to go for a smirk instead of a smile – his cheeks are starting to hurt from smiling so much already.

Cooper laughs and pushes him back, causing Sebastian to pinwheel in order to keep his balance. Cooper skates away before he can retaliate, but now at least Sebastian can enjoy the view as Cooper tries to wipe residual snow off his ass.

Cooper tries a few more jumps (and corresponding falls). They have a few more competitions, but instead of racing they see who can skate backwards the longest without falling down. Sebastian wins that one, but only because he intentionally bumps Cooper into the wall so he can win and break the tie.

They take a final lap together before calling it quits, and Cooper grabs Sebastian’s hand and tugs him closer. “I was almost hoping you didn’t know how to skate so I could teach you,” he admits with a smile.

“Instead it looks like you could use a few pointers from me,” Sebastian retorts.

“I kicked your ass in the speed races,” Cooper replies with mock offense.

“If by kicking my ass you mean barely beating me, and only because I didn’t want to trip over any old ladies,” Sebastian replies.

“You’re forgetting you cheated to get a head-start on at least half of those races,” Cooper points out.

Sebastian scoffs and tries to skate off, but Cooper chuckles and reels him back. He squeezes Sebastian’s hand and holds on to it. Sebastian rolls his eyes, but doesn’t pull away. His fingers are starting to get cold anyway, he justifies.

Finally they get off the ice and go back to their bench.

“You up for some chocolate?” Cooper asks as they unlace their skates.

“Sure,” Sebastian agrees. He checks his phone for the time, but is surprised to see several unread text messages. He looks at them just long enough to see they are all from Blaine before putting his phone away. He doesn’t know what Blaine wants, but he doesn’t want whatever it is to potentially ruin his night.

He doesn’t feel any guilt for going out with Blaine’s older brother, but now he’s wondering if he should be.

They take Cooper’s car to find a café or something that has Cooper’s desired chocolate, leaving Sebastian’s car in the parking lot to pick up later. It doesn’t take long to find something suitable, and soon Sebastian has a cup of coffee (a mocha, on Cooper’s insistence it also has be chocolate), and Cooper has a piece of chocolate cake and a latte.

Cooper did, to Sebastian’s annoyance, manage to pay for everything including Sebastian’s drink.

They sit at a window seat and people watch for awhile, the silence getting increasingly more awkward the longer it goes on.

“So…any plans for next year?” Cooper asks.

Sebastian shrugs. “College.”

“Any specific subject?”

“Undecided,” Sebastian returns shortly. He shifts in his seat, wondering if he should have made up some story just to say something.

But Cooper shrugs and thankfully doesn’t look surprised or worse, judgmental. “That’s fairly common, I think.”

Sebastian shrugs, but is also relieved. He wants to be able to have an answer for that question, but he simply doesn’t have one. And he hates the way that everyone else looks at him when he doesn’t have an ‘acceptable’ response. Unfortunately his answer of directing gay porn didn’t go over so well with his father.

“I always wanted to go into theatre. But that career was ‘too big a risk’ to spend all of my college years on it so I had to do communications as well. Now I’m living my fall-back plan until I can get to L.A.,” Cooper sighs.  

“Having a back-up plan makes you smart, not stupid like all of those waitressing theatre majors trying to make it big while slowly starving to death,” Sebastian adds.

Cooper snorts. “That wasn’t remotely offensive, just so you know.”

Sebastian smirks, and Cooper rolls his eyes.

Conversation goes much better from there. Because Cooper does most of the talking, he doesn’t even notice that Sebastian is eating his cake (with Cooper’s own fork). When he finally realizes, Sebastian snickers at Cooper’s affronted expression. He dramatically stands and goes and gets another slice of cake while Sebastian watches with a smile.

Sebastian doesn’t even want more cake, but he tries to steal some more of Cooper’s new slice anyway, just because it’s fun.

By the time they decide to leave, they are part of the last few people in the café. It isn’t nearly as late as Sebastian usually heads home, but the date seems to be over as they get back in Cooper’s car. The radio (a Top 40s station, how typical of an Anderson) plays in the silence.

Sebastian doesn’t know how dates are supposed to end, but he hopes there’s something more than just him getting out of Cooper’s car, into his own, and driving back to Dalton.

Cooper pulls into the parking lot of the arena, and Sebastian’s car is the only one left. Cooper parks next to it but Sebastian hesitates before getting out.

“I had fun,” Cooper says, turning down the radio.

Sebastian licks his lips. “Me too,” he decides to admit instead of going for some witty response.

“Good.”

Finally Cooper reaches across console and reels Sebastian in for a kiss. The seatbelt digs into his neck, but Sebastian ignores it as he kisses Cooper back. He wants to be back on that couch where he can press his entire body against Cooper rather than be in separate seats, but all he can do to satisfy that desire is to deepen the kiss.

So he does.

Cooper groans, and Sebastian immediately wants to hear that sound again. He gets another groan when he nips at Cooper’s bottom lip combined with snaking his hand up the bottom of Cooper’s shirt.  But then Cooper is slowing down the kiss until he eventually pulls back.

Sebastian has to stop himself from tilting his head into where Cooper’s hand still cups his cheek.

 “Can’t get too far on a first date,” Cooper explains.

Sebastian snorts. “I think we went farther last Friday.”

“Yeah but this is our official first date,” Cooper says with a smile that Sebastian is finding hard to argue with. “And that way we have something to look forward to on our second date.”

“Are you bribing me with your body into dating you?” Sebastian asks drily.

“Is it working?”

“I guess I’ll let you know on the second date.”

Sebastian gives Cooper one last lingering kiss before sliding out of the car. He knows he is strutting as he walks to his own car getting in. He waits until he is inside with the door closed before he starts beaming. Friday is officially the best day of the week.

It isn’t until he’s back at Dalton that he remembers the text messages from Blaine.

_So I’m not allowed to go to Scandals anymore since Cooper is being a jerk. Have you seen Les Mis yet?_

_Or if you don’t want to go to the movies, we could do something else?_

_Are you already at Scandals?_

_Well, just to let you know a couple people are headed to the Lima Theater to watch Les Mis. Feel free to join us or just text me!_

Sebastian decides to respond to Blaine tomorrow. Tonight all he wants to think about is Cooper.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endless thanks to my fantastic beta, misscorday!

On Saturday afternoon, Sebastian decides to respond to Blaine’s texts. _Had plans yesterday and didn’t get your texts. Already saw Les Mis in a much better theater_

 _Lima Theater wasn’t horrible_ , Blaine defends after a few minutes.

 _Such spectacular praise_.

_Yeah, yeah. Hey, are you busy tomorrow?_

_Not unless Hunter schedules an extra practice_.

_Any opportunity for a Lima Bean run?_

Sebastian frowns. _Sure,_ he replies. He hopes Blaine doesn’t expect to get Courvoisier in his coffee, because Sebastian has already tried countless times and been denied with each new barista.

_Awesome. 3 sound good?_

_Yeah._

_See you then!! :)_

Sebastian sets his phone aside and ignores his curiosity at Blaine’s change in mood. His phone buzzes about twenty minutes later, and he hopes it isn’t Blaine. He doesn’t notice the smile on his face when he sees the text is from Cooper.

 _My brother is buzzing around because he’s meeting you at the Lima Bean tomorrow_.

 _What? Why?_ Sebastian responds, frowning again.

 _According to him, he wants to be able to have a conversation with you that doesn’t have him being a slobbering drunk_.

 _Is that a verbatim quote?_ Sebastian sends back with a smirk.

_Close enough. You keeping your Friday night open?_

_Are you always this set in your routines?_

_Bored already?_

Sebastian bites his lip. He had never had a problem with over thinking text messages before. But now he can’t tell if Cooper is joking like Sebastian had been or if he’s serious.

_I find myself craving coffee on Fridays now anyway._

_Take note, this is what we call a well executed plan._

Sebastian chuckles. _You can’t take credit for my caffeine addiction_.

 _I can on Friday nights_.

_There are other ways to keep me up all night ;)_

_There are, but not for a gentleman such as myself_

_What happened to bribing me with your body?_ Sebastian immediately texts back.

_Bribery of this type only works if I don’t give you everything all at once._

_Tease_ , Sebastian sends with a smirk.

 _One of the best_ _;)_

Sebastian is very, very much looking forward to Friday.

“You’ve gotten weird,” Hunter comments on Tuesday when they reach their dorm room after Warbler practice.

“What?” Sebastian questions with a snort.

“No, really. You’re texting and smiling and shit. It’s creepy.”

“Deal with it,” Sebastian replies.

“Just tell me this has nothing to do with that Anderson kid everyone keeps whining about,” Hunter sighs.

“Aw, I didn’t know you cared,” Sebastian mocks, pulling a sappy expression.

Hunter rolls his eyes and shoves Sebastian to his side of the room.

“It has nothing to do with Blaine,” Sebastian carefully clarifies.

“Good,” Hunter says as he starts to change out of his Dalton uniform.

Sebastian raises his eyebrows as Hunter’s comment, but doesn’t say anything as he changes as well. Hunter knows that Sebastian and Blaine had had coffee on Sunday, since word had traveled through the Warbler grapevine very quickly about it. Sebastian had already fended off several questions about how no, he and Blaine weren’t dating. No, they weren’t hooking up. And no, it wasn’t anyone’s fucking business if he had any intentions of doing either of those (though the answer is also _no_ ).

Coffee with Blaine had been mildly entertaining. It had been weird to have the regular bubbly Blaine back after dealing with the emotional drunken one for so long, but it was good. He and Blaine might actually be able to be friends and that is just such a relief - though Sebastian was not going to be the chaperone at the bar, so Blaine had better fix that part for himself quickly. He wonders if there is a protocol about telling potential friends that you’re dating their older brother.

Sebastian decides that if anything it would be Cooper’s job, not his.

That Friday night, he and Cooper go to an improvisational comedy show. Of course Cooper volunteers the both of them for one of the skits, even though Sebastian’s reluctance is obvious. Sebastian doesn’t _hate_ doing improv, but Cooper is obviously the crowd favorite and soaks up the applause.

“I could do that,” Cooper comments as they leave the show, smiles on both of their faces.

“You did,” Sebastian points out.

“I mean as a career. A long-term thing. I would be great at it with just a bit more practice.”

Sebastian laughs, the sound escaping easily after the night already being full of them. “So much for L.A. and that whole acting and directing thing.”

“I could do all of them,” Cooper says with mock offense.

Sebastian hums in amusement. “If you want the live audience so much, you should just do Broadway.”

Cooper scoffs. “Broadway is dead.”

Sebastian chuckles. He really enjoys hearing the things that Cooper has really strong opinions on, because they’re more humorous than offensive. Personally, he doesn’t care enough about Broadway to even have an opinion. He forces himself not to intentionally rile up Cooper on this issue just for fun, though.

“Hollywood it is, then.”

It isn’t a date without coffee, of course, so they stop by a random café as they walk around downtown. Sebastian pays for their drinks this time since Cooper did last time. They get their coffees to go so they can continue walking. Westerville has lights strung in the bare branches of the trees so it’s at least relatively pretty, Sebastian supposes, as they walk down the street.

“The other café was better,” Sebastian says with a frown down at his cup of coffee.

“True. But I think I make the best cup.”

Sebastian looks at Cooper and smirks.

“That was not an invitation,” Cooper clarifies. But then he grabs Sebastian free hand and tugs him closer. “At least not yet,” he whispers before pressing a quick kiss to the corner of Sebastian’s mouth.

They continue walking down the sidewalk as if nothing had happened, but Sebastian hides a smile behind his coffee cup.

Sebastian can admit that he had some reservations about dating. Most of the couples he had ever witnessed (Kurt and Blaine especially) made him nauseous. The hand-holding, the nicknames, the inability to have an identity outside of the relationship.

Cooper is, thankfully, different. Sure Cooper will sometimes grab Sebastian’s hand to tug him somewhere, but it isn’t a grip of death meant to keep Sebastian by his side forever and ever. There are no nicknames. Ever. And he still feels like Sebastian, not _SebastianandCooper_ , no matter if they’re together or apart.

Though maybe it’s starting to feel like ‘Sebastian and Cooper’ when they’re together. Possibly. Maybe.

The one thing that really irks him about the dating process is the subsequent ‘no sex’ rule. Sure, technically he and Cooper aren’t boyfriends and neither of them has mentioned the word ‘exclusive.’ He still has a conscience, though, and it stops him from going to Scandals for some relief. Sebastian had never known masturbation to be so inadequate, but now it’s all he has and it is never enough after he ends the dates with Cooper with a fantastically lengthy and frustratingly hot make-out session. Recently the sessions have even been in the back-seat.

He comes back from his usual post-date shower (this time after their fourth date) to Hunter sitting on his bed with a smirk on his face.

“Problem?” Sebastian asks, but turns his back and starts getting dressed in his pajamas.

“I want to know who your boy toy is. Or really, whose boy toy you are.”

“I always knew my sex life was important to you. Rethinking that sexuality issue of yours?” Sebastian misdirects.

“Nice try, but _someone_ is cock-blocking you. Don’t think I haven’t noticed your frequent and suspiciously long showers. And you don’t come back smelling like a bar anymore, either,” Hunter points out. Damn, why couldn’t Sebastian have gotten a stupider roommate?

“None of your business,” Sebastian mutters as he collapses onto his bed. He had already taken care of the immediate effects of his date with Cooper, but he knows he’s also going to have deliciously frustrating dreams tonight. He keeps oscillating between being happy and frustrated, and it’s exhausting. And also distracting, especially when his mind wanders during English Literature.

“It can’t be anyone from Dalton or I would’ve noticed by now,” Hunter thinks out loud.

Sebastian grunts, but otherwise doesn’t give him an answer.

“You aren’t embarrassed because it’s a girl, are you?” Hunter jokes.

Sebastian flips him off. Then he slips underneath his covers and turns his back on Hunter.

“Come on, we’re roommates.”

“Yeah, but I’m not a pre-teen girl like you.”

Hunter grumbles, but turns off his light and lets Sebastian go to sleep in peace.

The following Sunday, Sebastian gets a text that reads - _You haven’t invited me to Sectionals :(_

 _assumed you’d already be going_ , Sebastian replies.

_I would still appreciate an official invitation._

_Cooper Anderson, would you please come to Sectionals to watch me kick your brother’s ass?_

_Thank you. I’ll be there._

Sebastian raises his eyebrows at the sparse message. _No heart-felt defense of your brother?_

_I hate their song choices, and he’s been practicing them constantly at performance volume. Kick their asses._

_I told him he should’ve stayed a Warbler_

Not that it had helped, any. Hunter had finally given in to the nostalgia and the heart-felt sighing by many of the Warblers and concocted an idea to steal New Direction’s Nationals trophy to lure Blaine back to Dalton. Sebastian pre-empted the whole plan by simply inviting Blaine over to hear what Hunter had to say. It even worked, much to all the Warbler’s (especially Sebastian’s) surprise.

The Warblers and Blaine completed a fantastic rendition of ‘Dark Side,’ but sadly Blaine still decided to stay at McKinley. Sebastian had seen Blaine’s longing, though, and only his dedication to being a nice guy had him biting back the comments about how apparently Blaine’s friends at McKinley were enough to stay there for while the Dalton ones hadn’t been last year.

But he and Blaine are friends now, and even though he makes the comment, “Friends don’t let friends go to public schools,” (which had gotten a laugh and a small smile), he supposes part of this friendship thing is to respect Blaine’s decision. Sebastian isn’t sure he reaches _respecting_ the decision, but he does come to accept it.

Friendship with Blaine is even surprisingly easy. There are texts and phone calls and Skype sessions and meeting up at the Lima Bean and Blaine seems to be back to his bashful but charming school boy self. No more drunken escapades at Scandals. Sebastian supposes that grateful might be a good word to use for how he feels – he never thought he and Blaine would be able to get here, not after that slushie left his hand. It’s nice.

But it’s slowly starting to sink in that Blaine might not be so eager to grab coffee with him once he knows about Sebastian and his brother. He decides to ignore these thoughts.

Sectionals arrive in a whirl of last-minute practices and Hunter’s temper tantrums that make Sebastian wonder how he ever survived a military academy. The man is an absolute diva. Unfortunately there’s no doubt he’s also a good captain since Sebastian has never felt so confident that the Warblers are going to demolish anything New Directions has to offer.

Cooper sends him a text wishing him good luck, and Sebastian starts the performance with a wide grin.

Hunter’s lead on ‘Whistle’ goes flawlessly, and Sebastian has to forcefully block out what Cooper is probably thinking about their song choice. His mind is wiped clean of nothing but performing on his own solo throughout ‘Live While We’re Young.’ The Warblers couldn’t have been more perfect, and the applause is thunderous.

When Sebastian and the rest of the Warblers enter back into their temporary dressing room (some Spanish classroom) he finds a thermos filled with hot black coffee with his name on it. A few of the other boys are left flowers or chocolates from their parents, but his gift (unsigned, but no doubt from Cooper) is perfect.

Hunter raises his eyebrows and crosses his arms, but Sebastian just smirks and keeps his secret.

Then Sebastian almost chokes on his coffee as he watches New Directions from the audience with the rest of the Warblers. Gangnam Style? No wonder Cooper wanted the Warblers to win. It turns out their song choice doesn’t matter anyway, as after a few moments of chaos the entire team rushes off stage. New Directions is disqualified shortly thereafter, but Sebastian feels almost disappointed that they couldn’t cleanly prove their superiority.                                     

Hunter looks just as irritated when the decision of their disqualification is announced, but then he is all polite smiles when he’s handed the trophy at the awards ceremony.

A text from Cooper has him sneaking away to an empty hallway of McKinley.

“Congratulations,” Cooper greets him with a wide smile. As far as Sebastian can tell, it’s genuine. He smirks as he wonders if Blaine realizes how little Cooper was cheering for him.

“Told you we’d win,” Sebastian retorts, keeping his smug smirk.

Cooper chuckles and just rewards Sebastian with a kiss. Sebastian lets himself get a little lost in it, languidly moving his lips against Cooper’s while pressing deliciously up against him.

Eventually Cooper pulls away. “I have to go console Blaine with ice cream,” he apologizes.

Sebastian sighs. “See you Friday?”

“Definitely,” Cooper confirms. Then with one last, quick kiss (okay, maybe two) he heads back to the theater.

“Caught you,” Hunter’s smug voice precedes his body as he comes around a corner.

“Congratulations,” Sebastian deadpans while rolling his eyes.

“That the guy who has managed to tame the wild Sebastian Smythe?” Hunter asks.

Sebastian just shrugs and follows Cooper’s path back to the theater.

“Oh come on, you’re finally seeing a hot guy – and yes, I said hot so get over it – and you’re not even bragging about it?” Hunter asks as he catches up to Sebastian.

Sebastian shoots an icy glare at him, but Hunter just laughs.

“Oh my God, you actually like him. This must be a first for you.”

Sebastian uses one arm to shove Hunter, moving him only a couple of inches. He isn’t going to gush or moon over Cooper to Hunter, but at the same time it’s nice someone knows that he is actually in a successful relationship (and he didn’t even have to say anything).

“Come on, at least tell me his name,” Hunter cajoles.

Sebastian bites his lip, but is too curious at what Hunter’s reaction will be to not say. “Cooper Anderson. Blaine’s older brother.”

Hunter gives him a skeptical look, but when Sebastian just shrugs and nods, his jaw drops a little in shock. “Damn. You traded up.”

"God, you are such a girl,” Sebastian chuckles.

“Does Blaine know that you’re with his older brother?”

“No,” Sebastian admits calmly though his stomach starts to knot.

Hunter chuckles and holds out his fist. Sebastian rolls his eyes but pounds it, his stomach relaxing.

“Do they have any sisters?” Hunter asks.

“Nope. Told you it’s better to be gay.”

“Fuck off, Smythe.”

The next Friday, Sebastian and Cooper are ending their date making out in the backseat of Sebastian’s car. The windows are already fogged up and Sebastian had just gotten his hands underneath Cooper’s shirt when Cooper, as always, pulls away. The frustration is overwhelming and he can’t control his mouth.

“Are you ever going to want to fuck me?” Sebastian demands.

“What?” Cooper asks, incredulous.

“Sex – yes or no?” He asks, watching Cooper carefully.

“Sebastian…I...”

Cooper’s reluctance is obvious. Sebastian sits back in the seat, numb. Having a guy not be attracted to him doesn’t happen often and it takes him by surprise every time. Whenever he imagined himself in a relationship – and yeah, that was rare – it was always the other romantic things that he thought would be the problem. Not that Cooper wouldn’t even want him.

“You don’t want to have sex with me.”

Cooper sighs and runs his hands through his hair. “ _No._ Well, I mean no, that’s not it. Of course I do, it’s just – God, every time we reach a certain point I just… I _can’t_ take advantage of you.”

Sebastian almost laughs in relief. “Then sit back and let me take advantage of you,” he purrs, instantly switching moods. Cooper wants him. Cooper wants to have sex with him. Cooper wants to have sex with him right now if his body is any indication. When he straddles Cooper’s lap, it isn’t hard to tell.

“Sebastian are – are you sure?” Cooper gasps as Sebastian slowly rolls his hips down into Cooper’s.

“Fuck yes,” Sebastian breathes before kissing Cooper hard.

“We are not having sex right now in the back of your car,” Cooper pants after Sebastian pulls back to breathe.

“No…?” Sebastian whispers. Then he kisses his way slowly up Cooper’s neck, stopping to suck a mark right underneath his jaw line.

“No,” Cooper moans weakly even as his hands clutch Sebastian’s hips tightly and direct him to keep up his movements.

“What if I get us off just like this, hm? We can even leave the clothes on,” Sebastian tries to persuade.

Cooper tilts his head back and Sebastian immediately peppers his neck with butterfly kisses. But just when he thinks he’s won, Cooper starts to push him away.

“No,” Cooper says, this time more firmly.

Sebastian reluctantly climbs off Cooper’s lap. He sits facing Cooper with his back pressed up against the cold window and arms crossed. “I hope you realize I’m not a fucking virgin.”

“What an interesting phrase. ‘Fucking virgin,’” Cooper tries to joke.

Sebastian frowns and Cooper sighs.

“I don’t think you are …inexperienced,” Cooper continues. “But for the first time, I want to be able to take my time with you and explore. Spread you out on a bed, have sex, and then stay with you all night. If we are going to do this, then we’re going to do this right.”

Sebastian scoffs. “Yeah, along with candles and roses, right? Some stupid idea of a magical first time and all that bullshit.”

Cooper frowns and shifts back to mirror Sebastian’s position. “And what do you want?”

“An orgasm,” Sebastian answers shortly. Not his most eloquent response, but he’s _horny_ and Cooper keeps pushing him away.

“Please be more mature,” Cooper says, rolling his eyes.

Sebastian sneers. “I’m being more mature than you. I’m not the one wanting some magical, fairytale sex scene because I realize that it’s just sex.”

“This has never been just about sex for me,” Cooper shoots back immediately. “If this is all this fucking is to you then we’re done.” Cooper twists and opens the car door. He gets out and slams the door shut.

Sebastian smacks his hand against the window as he watches Cooper drive away. That isn’t what he meant – he wouldn’t go celibate for so long for just anyone, no matter how hot they are. But if all Cooper thinks of him is that he’s just a big slut then it never would’ve worked out anyway.

Fuck dating. It isn’t worth this much effort.


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Endless thanks to my wonderful beta, misscorday!

Hunter may sometimes gossip like a pre-teen girl, but one nice thing about him is that he doesn’t ask stupid questions. When Sebastian storms back into the dorm room that night and doesn’t say anything, Hunter doesn’t ask. Instead he just says that some of the Warbler guys are having a Call of Duty marathon tomorrow, and Nick is going to try to hit up his older brother for some beer.

Sebastian grunts, and that’s the end of their conversation for the night. He waits until Hunter is asleep before he punches his pillow until he is exhausted.

On Saturday, his anger fades into something that just simply _hurts_. He doesn’t like it. He doesn’t want to do anything, much less go to the Call of Duty marathon, but Hunter is giving him these knowing looks and saying that Sebastian can just hole up in their dorm room if he wants to. Sebastian doesn’t want Hunter to think he wants to be alone to cry or something – he doesn’t, he just wants to sit around and do nothing but think really angry thoughts - so he goes to the gathering. Thankfully everyone leaves him alone with some alcohol so he manages to keep all his snide comments about their pitiful skills inside his head. On Sunday he’ll be overthis, whatever this is, he tells himself.

On Sunday, he still hurts and he hates it. He tells himself it’s just because he didn’t get a chance to fuck Cooper during their relationship. _Non_ -relationship. For all he knows Cooper had a different person for each night of the week, and Sebastian was just the Friday night special.

Blaine texts and asks if he wants to meet up for coffee. Sebastian blows him off with some reasonable lie because he doesn’t want to talk to any Andersons right now. Not like Cooper had tried to call him anyway, Sebastian reminds himself bitterly.

School sucks. Lacrosse sucks. Everything sucks.

“Okay, enough,” Hunter commands on Wednesday afternoon.

“Enough of your cat leaving hairballs all over the carpet? I agree,” Sebastian says from where he’s lounging on his bed, doing nothing. Again.

“No. Enough of your moping and bitching.”

Sebastian finally turns to look at Hunter and glares. “This is me. Your military ass must just be oversensitive.”

“Oh please, you went from skipping down the hallways to lashing out at anyone within two feet of you. I don’t know what happened between you and Cooper, but you need to get over it already before I murder you.”

“I _am_ over it,” Sebastian defends.

Hunter snorts and Sebastian glares harder. “You aren’t that good of a performer.”

“No one could match your performance of being straight,” Sebastian responds.

Hunter sneers, but that’s all of a response he gets. It’s an old insult that’s lost its punch. Sebastian has never been able to make Hunter completely lose his cool, and he hates it and appreciates it at the same time. Right now, though, it’s just another item to add to the list of why life sucks.

 “Go out and get a rebound fuck or something. Someone _not_ twice your age,” is Hunter’s last comment before he turns to leave.

Sebastian flips him off, but Hunter doesn’t look back before he’s gone, slamming the door closed.

Thirty minutes later his phone buzzes with a new text message. He hasn’t moved from his position on the bed since Hunter left, and he’s trying to ignore how pathetic he is. Thankfully his phone is within reach, and he opens the text – from Blaine. Sebastian had stopped hoping for any communication from Cooper after Sunday.

_Hey!! Do you have plans for tomorrow yet?_

Sebastian stares at the message for a moment. He usually has plans on Friday, though Blaine hadn’t ever seemed to stop asking every week (and Sebastian had to be purposely vague and misleading so that Blaine couldn’t catch on that Sebastian was actually dating his brother). But now for the first Friday in a long time – Sebastian does not think of how long it’s been on purpose – he doesn’t have plans. He doesn’t particularly want to do anything either, but Hunter is right. He’s being pathetic and moping.  He’s not some heartbroken teenage drama queen.

_I’m headed to Scandals. Want to come and make sure I don’t die of alcohol poisoning?_ Sebastian replies to the text. Scandals (and someone to go home with who is not an Anderson) is exactly what he needs.

_Haha. Sure. I’ll make sure you stay alive…unless I’m too busy dancing :)_

It hadn’t been long after their last time at Scandals (where Sebastian had gotten Blaine intentionally drunk so he could see Cooper) that Blaine had decided to take a long break from any form of alcohol. Blaine has stayed true to his word this time, and Sebastian hopes that he isn’t fucking it up for Blaine right now by inviting him out.

_I’ll see you tomorrow night then, killer._

Scandals is exactly what he needs, Sebastian tells himself.

Unfortunately when he gets to Scandals he doesn’t see Eric, a decently hot guy who he knows is a willing and fantastic lay. Sebastian doesn’t have a right to be pissed about it, but he is anyway. He thinks Eric could’ve been exactly what he needs to release the sexual tension that has been building up for weeks – ever since Cooper fucking Anderson decided that he was too good to have sex with Sebastian. But Eric has probably found another fuck buddy while Sebastian was wasting his time with Cooper.

“Hey come on, you don’t look like you’re having any fun,” Blaine says when he comes back to the bar. He had kept his word and just been dancing most of the night, completely sober.

Sebastian, on the other hand, is well on his way to being drunk. He just shrugs in response to Blaine’s pouting face. Blaine had probably assumed that the alcohol poisoning thing was a joke.

“Dance with me,” Blaine says firmly and tugs Sebastian towards the dance floor. Sebastian sighs and lets himself be dragged along.

As they dance – or more like two-step in the general vicinity of each other – Blaine sends him a wide smile. It hits Sebastian that if he tried, he could probably fuck Blaine and it would be the ultimate ‘screw you’ to Cooper.

He nearly gags at the thought. He and Blaine are _friends_ and even as unusual a concept that is for Sebastian, he knows he shouldn’t have those thoughts about Blaine. It shouldn’t matter who Sebastian is fucking pissed at.

“What’s wrong?” Blaine asks, but Sebastian ignores the question in favor of paying attention to the guy two feet from Blaine’s left. He’ll do, Sebastian decides. It’s obvious that the guy drinks beer more than he works out and has no idea what to do with the blond mess of hair on his head, but he doesn’t look anything like Cooper and that’s all Sebastian needs.

Sebastian gives Blaine a small salute and flashes him a smirk before he goes and grinds against the acceptable looking stranger. The stranger doesn’t seem to mind and easily goes along with Sebastian. He ignores Blaine’s look of disappointment and what is probably disgust.

He needs to go back to normal. He’s really screwed in the head if he wants to use Blaine as revenge. He needs to forget Cooper Anderson and the only way he knows that works is to have someone else fuck Cooper out of his head.

Sebastian loses track of where Blaine is, his mind lost in the throb of the music, the alcohol in his blood, and guy behind him. He needs to make sure the guy will want to take him home tonight. He doesn’t know how long it’s been, but his shirt is sticking to the sweat on his body before the guy whispers an invitation in his ear and Sebastian agrees.

He follows him – Sebastian thinks he said his name is Evan – to the door when a hand around his wrist stops him.

“You’re drunk, Sebastian,” Blaine informs him while glaring at Evan.

“I’m fine. Let me go,” Sebastian says, trying to tug his wrist out of Blaine’s grip. He’s intoxicated, sure, but he isn’t about to black out or anything.

“Find your own fuck for the night,” Evan adds.

“He isn’t having sex with anyone when he’s been drinking,” Blaine stands, tipping his chin up.

Sebastian can’t help the laughter that starts. That Blaine is protecting his honor – or lack of it, it isn’t like Sebastian has any – is just hilarious, especially when just a week ago Sebastian wanted nothing more than to fuck Blaine’s brother behind his back.

Evan can’t seem to hold up to the force that is Blaine Anderson, because he disappears back into the crowd with nothing more than a grumbled ‘whatever.’

“Come on, I’m taking you home,” Blaine says with a sigh, and he tugs Sebastian out of the club. Sebastian is still having a hard time controlling his laugher.

“You aren’t going to take advantage of me, are you?” Sebastian says as he collapses into the passenger seat of Blaine’s car. He can’t believe how the tables have turned – now he’s the one who has been dumped, gotten drunk, and needs a ride home.

“No!” Blaine defends, turning a bright red.

“Pity.” Then Sebastian snorts and breaks out in laugher again, though he hopes it doesn’t sound as bitter as he feels right now. Blaine is a good friend, and one he obviously doesn’t deserve.

Ten minutes later, and Sebastian breaks the silence. “I may not be fully functional, but I think you missed the turn to Dalton.”

“We’re not going to Dalton,” Blaine replies. “My house is closer and definitely more comfortable. You can just crash there - in the guest room,” he hurried tacks on.

_Fuck_ , is all Sebastian can think.

He doesn’t say anything the rest of the car ride. He can’t explain to Blaine why he can’t go to his house, why he can’t face Cooper like this. Sebastian isn’t supposed to be all sticky and intoxicated and not ready when he faces Cooper, he’s supposed to be fucking on top of things and not care that Cooper dumped his ass.

But there’s one thing he can do, and that is pretend that he doesn’t give a fuck. It’s remarkably easy when he and Blaine walk through the Anderson house, and Cooper comes from the kitchen (unsurprisingly) to check on Blaine.

“Sebastian,” Cooper greets in surprise.

Sebastian nods, but otherwise remains impassive.

“I didn’t have anything except Pepsi,” Blaine informs Cooper proudly. “But Sebastian’s a little out of it and is going to crash here for the night. I’m just going to make sure the guest room is all set. Wait here for a sec,” he tells Sebastian before darting down the hallway.

Sebastian meets Cooper’s questioning gaze unflinchingly. He can almost feel that his heart is detached from his body, like he’s temporarily taken it out and set it aside so it won’t distract him.

“Hey,” Cooper greets more cautiously.

Sebastian rolls his eyes and doesn’t reply.

Cooper takes a huge breath and lets it out. “Look…we should talk.”

“Then talk,” Sebastian says. He crosses his arms and leans back against the wall.

Cooper frowns for a moment before rearranging his face into something more neutral. “I think we need to discuss what happened last Friday.”

“Why? To get ‘closure?’ It’s not like we were boyfriends.” He can hear the emotion slip through into his words, but he deems it okay since he gets to watch Cooper’s face darken. “You really think I wasn’t fucking other people? You were just the dessert course,” Sebastian continues spitefully.

He couldn’t have asked for perfect timing as they can hear Blaine’s footsteps coming back. They rearrange their faces back into indifference, and the situation is almost humorous as Blaine comes back with an oblivious wide smile.

“It’s all set,” he announces. “Just follow me. Do you need water or anything?”

Sebastian shakes his head and doesn’t look at Cooper as he walks by him and follows Blaine back to the guest room.

“The bathroom is just around the corner there,” Blaine points out. “I put out an extra toothbrush. I also grabbed some of Cooper’s old sweats and a T-shirt for you, if you’d rather sleep in that. I knew mine would be too short.”

Sebastian swallows dryly. “Great,” he says, surprising himself with how calm it sounds. Like there was any way he would be able to sleep in Cooper’s clothes.

“I’ll see you in the morning. Hopefully you’ll feel okay,” Blaine says in sympathy.

“Thanks Blaine,” Sebastian says and enters the guest room. He closes the door behind him and lets out a huge breath. Well…fuck. He finally allows his heart to catch up with the conversation he had with Cooper, and everything starts hurting again just like before.

It doesn’t matter anyway, he tells himself. Cooper would’ve just hurt him first if he hadn’t. It’s better this way because he doesn’t have to sit through some talk where Cooper tries to let him down easy. Now as soon as he actually does go out and fuck someone else, everything can go back to what it was before.

When Sebastian lays in bed that night – admittedly more comfortable than the beds at Dalton – he watches the digital clock change numbers. He couldn’t bring himself to wear Cooper’s clothes, but he can’t sleep anyway. Is Cooper still in the kitchen, working on his script? Did he go to bed, glad that he dumped Sebastian last week?

His phone buzzes and he grabs it off the nightstand eagerly. His heart falls when he sees it’s from Hunter.

_Where are you??_

_Andersons. I’m crashing here tonight_ , Sebastian explains. He supposes he should be glad that he has a roommate/friend who actually gets worried when he doesn’t come back, but he just can’t right now.

_Not the type of rebound fuck I was suggesting._ Hunter responds immediately.

_Shut up, I’m sleeping_ Sebastian replies before turning his phone on silent. Of course Cooper wouldn’t try to text him when he’s in the same house. Besides, Sebastian is certain he killed any desire Cooper had to talk to him anyway.

The next morning, Sebastian wakes up late. His mind is foggy, but fortunately he’s isn’t dealing with a killer hangover headache. It takes him ten minutes to decide to put on Cooper’s old clothes so that Blaine won’t look at him funny. Chances are that Cooper cleared out this morning so he wouldn’t run into him.

He really needs a shower, but his grumbling stomach and dry throat have him meandering to the kitchen. He finds a glass in a cupboard near the sink and fills it with water. He’s drinking when he sees Cooper walk into the kitchen. Sebastian almost chokes – instead he just coughs up some of the water. Fortunately it lands in the sink, though it’s just as embarrassing.

“Afternoon,” Cooper greets him calmly, though Sebastian can see the small smile even as he continues to cough. “Congratulations, you even managed to get up before Blaine and he didn’t have any alcohol.”

Sebastian grunts in acknowledgment. He is extremely conscious of the fact that he is wearing Cooper’s clothes and really wishes he wasn’t.

“Can I get you anything?” Cooper continues politely. “I used to make waffles for Blaine the morning after.”

Sebastian opens his mouth to say no, but his stomach grumbles unhappily. “…Whatever,” he is forced to agree. He slips past Cooper who starts pulling ingredients and equipment from different areas of the kitchen and plops down at the kitchen stool.

The silence is awkward. The sounds that Cooper makes as he starts mixing up the waffle batter aren’t enough to cover up the lack of conversation. Sebastian studiously pretends to be interested in the granite countertop in front of him. He’s never seen it in the daylight, and he analyzes the different colored flecks that are in it. He doesn’t know how long he’s been concentrating on it (and ignoring Cooper) trying to connect the same colored spots into different shapes when an empty coffee cup slides in front of his face.

“Why don’t you make yourself some coffee,” Cooper prompts.

Sebastian stares at Cooper for a moment, but Cooper just turns around and goes back to the waffles. He’s disappointed, but he shouldn’t be. He pushes the coffee cup aside and goes back to his dots. Drinking the delicious hazelnut-flavored coffee from what he’s come to consider as his mug just feels wrong now.

Sebastian can almost feel the weight of Cooper’s eyes as he evaluates him, but Cooper doesn’t say anything.

A few moments later Cooper slides a freshly made waffle in front of Sebastian. He then gets him the syrup and butter.

“Can I get a fork…please?” Sebastian asks quietly.

Cooper gets him one. “Did you want peanut butter instead?”

“…What?”

“Did you want peanut butter on your waffle?” Cooper asks again.

“No?” Sebastian replies, thrown by the idea.

Cooper rolls his eyes before fetching a jar of creamy peanut butter and a knife. “Just try it.”

“What do you want me to do?” Sebastian asks.

Cooper chuckles. Then he grabs Sebastian’s plate and starts slathering peanut butter over half of the waffle. He pours a decent amount of syrup over the peanut butter and then hands Sebastian the plate back. “Just try it. You’ll like it.”

Sebastian takes a bite, but only after Cooper goes back to making more waffles. Unfortunately Cooper is right. He likes it. The warm waffle melts the peanut butter and it tastes delicious with the syrup on it.

He surreptitiously adds peanut butter and syrup to the remaining half of his waffle.

Cooper must have put something in the waffles, Sebastian decides. Because there’s no reason he shouldn’t be bitter or at least snarky when Cooper goes over to the coffee maker and starts making a pot of delicious smelling coffee. Or when it’s finished brewing, that Cooper grabs Sebastian’s mug and fills it with coffee too. Or when Cooper sits beside Sebastian and starts to eat some of the waffles (with peanut butter).

It shouldn’t be this easy. Right? But as they sit and eat waffles and drink coffee, it feels like a truce has been declared.

…He really needs to stop imagining this as possible morning after scenario.

Sebastian clears his throat. Despite everything, Cooper has been mature about this and it’s time he proves that he can be too. “Look, Cooper. About what I said last night…and even, even before that I just – ”

“Morning!” Blaine greets them cheerfully as he comes in, already dressed for the day.

Sebastian changes gears instantly. Hunter can go screw himself – Sebastian is a consummate performer. There’s no way Blaine can know that the smile Sebastian gives him in return for a greeting is forced.

“It’s actually almost one in the afternoon,” Cooper says dryly.

“Are there no waffles left?” Blaine pouts, looking at the empty plates.

“Don’t give me that look. There’s more batter in the fridge. Sit down and give me a few minutes,” Cooper sighs and gets off of the bar stool.

Blaine takes his spot and Sebastian withholds a sigh.

“Oh, ick. Did Cooper convert you to his peanut butter thing? That’s disgusting,” Blaine says, wrinkling his nose at the remnants of peanut butter and syrup on Sebastian’s plate.

He and Cooper share an amused look, and Sebastian’s heart beats harder in his chest.

He doesn’t get another chance to talk to Cooper before Blaine is driving him back to Scandals to pick up his car. Blaine, despite his sleeping in, is bright and bubbly. Sebastian is glad he isn’t hung over or the car ride would have been absolute torture.

“Here we are!” Blaine declares with a bright smile when he puts the car in park outside Scandals.

Sebastian holds in his sigh of relief and turns in his seat to face Blaine. He clears his throat. “Look…um. Thanks. For giving me a place to crash last night and stuff.”

“Anytime,” Blaine says.

“Careful making offers like those. I’ll take you up on in,” Sebastian threatens with a playful leer. He chuckles when Blaine just rolls his eyes.

“Go take a shower. You’re starting to stink up my car.”

“Will do killer. See you tomorrow for the usual Lima Bean run?”

“Tomorrow,” Blaine confirms, smiling. “Now out!”

When Sebastian walks into his dorm room, Hunter is sitting at his desk.

“I don’t know whether to be disgusted or impressed,” Hunter sighs.

Sebastian thinks it might have something to do with the fact that he’s still wearing Cooper’s clothes.

“The kind and compassionate Blaine insisted I wear his brother’s clothes so I didn’t have to do a complete walk of shame,” Sebastian says with a smirk. He didn’t argue since it gives him another excuse to potentially run into Cooper. A confrontation he is actually looking forward to because maybe, just maybe, he still has a chance.

“…Does that mean you didn’t get laid last night?” Hunter asks. “Or did you have to strip the brother to get the clothes?”

Sebastian smirks. “Do you want the details? I can show you how awesome I am at dirty talk.”

“Forget I asked,” Hunter mumbles and goes back to his homework.


End file.
